What You Need to Know About Amazon Giveaways

Today I wanted to share a new feature offered by Amazon: Amazon Giveaways. This convenient service allows you to enlist Amazon to help manage all of your giveaways. I've set up a paperback giveaway ending April 27 for The Dark Dreamer if you're interested in entering: https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/9897bcc9b6fb647f

A few points about the service:

• Products must be selected from the Amazon catalog. This excludes eBooks, but can include anything from paperbacks, jewelry, music, household items, clothing, etc. Eligible products will have a giveaway option on the footer of their Amazon product page.
• There are two options for setting up your Amazon giveaway. Awarding the first winners who enter in order to initiate a rush to secure the prize or picking a random entrant number as the winner. For instance, if you are giving out two books, you can choose the winner to be every 100 person who clicks to enter. Giveaways run for a week or until the prizes are claimed.
• You can choose one of two ways for participants to enter. You can just have them click the entry button on the giveaway link or you can have them follow you on Twitter. No other entry options are currently available. 
• Checkout is done before the giveaway goes live. Once you enter your payment details, Amazon will take care of the rest. They'll charge your card once winners are selected and mail out the prize directly to the winners. The only downfall of this option for authors is that you won't be able to send signed books.
• Amazon sets up the Giveaway link and shares the link with you via email. You can share the link via email, Facebook and Twitter. An Amazon Giveaway hashtag is included in the tweet to help others find your giveaway.
• The Amazon Giveaways seem to have a substantial reach. Besides sharing the link on Twitter and Facebook, I haven't done major promotion, but I have still seen a dramatic jump in my number of Twitter followers since the giveaway launched.
• One bummer about the service is you can't use your Prime membership for shipping. You must pay the standard rate for each item. Giveaways are open to US residents only. 

Money Matters: eBook Pricing

In April, it will be two years since I published First Visions. Two freaking years! I can hardly believe it, but in some ways it feels much longer than that. If you know me, then you’re probably not overly surprised that I wouldn’t dare call myself an expert on anything—but I have learned a few things about successful marketing techniques along the way. Today, I wanted to talk a little bit about pricing and book sales.

First Price Point

You’re about to hit publish on your latest masterpiece and you find yourself stuck on what the heck to price your book at. Although you may feel like you should be charging $10 for your eBook, you may not generate any sales. If you’re a first-time author, this is especially true. Why would I buyer take a chance on an unknown author when their favorites are offering books at $5 or less?

Another consideration is how much you’ll make off of each book sale. Authors who have been signed to publishing houses are not taking home 70 percent of each book sale. Their royalty rate may be in the range of 10 to 20 percent. When you self-publish, you’re bringing home a higher royalty rate. Yes, you’re putting out your own money to cover publishing and marketing costs, but you’re having more control over how your money is spent.

According to a study conducted by Smashwords in 2013, books priced at $3.99 earned an average of 55 percent more than other price points. Keep in mind that any price over $2.99 is making you eligible for Amazon’s 70 percent royalty rate.

Price Drops

A sale is a great way to start off your promotional efforts for your new release. To drum up interest for your book, consider offering the book for 99 pennies for the first week or two. Later, when you have sales, make sure you promote the heck out of them to spread the word. There are free and paid promotion sites where you can advertise your sale price. You can also use your blog and social media to spread the news. I found that having a giveaway associated with the sale is a good way to get more exposure.

Holy Free Book!

A few people outside of the publishing world were horrified when I announced I was making First Visions permanently free. To be honest, I was leery at first. I worked for months on the book and poured my heart and pocketbook into putting it out there. However, I didn’t go the permanent free route until I had the entire series published and had a solid fan base. Keeping First Visions free has been a great way for new readers to discover my books.

If you sign up for KDP Select and have free promotion days, you need to find ways to maximize your exposure on those dates. If you have the funds in your marketing budget, I urge you to use sites like Kindle Nation Daily and Book Bub. I promoted my free days on both and broke into the top 100 Free on Amazon.

Finding the perfect price is tough, but after some experimentation on your part, you can see what price increases sales while also improving your readership. Just keep in mind to remain consistent across all sales channels. Amazon price matches and will lower the price of your book if it’s found to be different on another website.

How to Avoid Epic Book Fails and Another The Final Omen Gift Card Giveaway

This week is my book blitz through Xpresso Book Tours. As part of the event, I'm giving away a $40 Amazon Gift Card. Check out the post I shared about avoiding book fails and enter the Rafflecoper below.

The Final Omen: Second Sight Book Four was the one for me—the book that would have me banging my head against the walls and questioning why I ever decided to print my stories for the world to see. Every possible book related catastrophe has plagued me since I began writing the novel and I hope to share some of my insight to prevent the same fate from befalling other writers.

I’ve got a MacBook now, it’s all good…

After my Windows computer went wonky on me and contracted some sort of zombie virus, I decided to save up my pennies and upgrade to a MacBook. The Apple brand gave me a fall sense of security, as if nothing ever bad could happen to my livelihood if I used a MacBook. So very freaking wrong! One hard drive crash later, I was left scrambling to try and find a data recovery firm who could get my precious novel off of the MacBook. When it didn’t work, I was forced to work off of a partial copy I had emailed myself a month earlier. This disaster led me to discover the wonders of Dropbox: an online document storage system that every writer should have installed on their computer.

My editor is the shizzel, I can’t wait to hear her thoughts on my final book…

A month past my expected publication date, I had finally managed to recreate The Final Omen as best to my ability as I could. I was all set to send my manuscript to my editor when all of a sudden her email address isn’t working. I go to her Elance page and it’s gone. No!!!! Since we only communicated via email, I had no way to track her down. This meant I had to start over with a completely new editor who hadn’t read or worked on the three previous books in the series. My point is that don’t assume anything. In hindsight, I should’ve worked out the editing details way in advance.

I can do it all on my own! I don’t need any help!

I bit off way more than I could chew with The Final Omen. I lost a month’s worth of work and tried to cut corners to get the book out on time. It was a bad call on my part and I finally had to take a step back and ask for help. Since my original cover art was lost on my computer, I tried to redo the cover using a small file I saved online. It was frustrating and time-consuming and I finally scraped it altogether and hired a cover artist. The end result? A cover that I love! I’m not a graphic artist or a formatter and I learned that although doing these things myself could save a few bucks, it’s not worth the headache.

When you’re a writer, it’s a constant learning experience. As crazed as I may have been because of these issues, I’m sort of glad they happened. It’ll make the process of publishing my next novel much easier.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Writer Wednesday: Must Haves Writing

I write quirky characters, so it probably comes as no surprises that I have my own set of quirks. Here are a few of my must-haves when I write:

Total Silence

Since having kids, I am a total scatterbrain and have the attention span of a gnat. Trying to write with a six year old and a three year old has become laughable. When I’m in my office, I need quiet (by quiet I mean the yelling is muffled by my closed door). I don’t even write with music on. 

My MacBook

I never thought it would happen, but after years of using Windows, I’m a Mac girl now. I’m completely reliant on my MacBook and don’t write on anything else. Plus, if the calendar on my Mac got erased, my life would be in complete disarray.

Bubble Gum

I have a serious addiction to bubble gum. I usually try not to buy packs of it because I will chew it incessantly until the pack is completely gone. When I’m writing, I usually have one of those huge resealable bags nearby.

Hot Chocolate or Cappuccino

I’m not much of a coffee drinker. I’ll usually only drink coffee if it has been leaden with sugar (Dunkin Donuts Light and Sweet is a favorite). Instead, I usually have a hot chocolate or French vanilla cappuccino handy.   

Pictures of My Family

Last but definitely not least is that I have to write surrounded by pictures of my husband and kids. They inspire me every day and I need to see their wonderful smiles even when we’re apart.

Writer Wednesday: Selling Your First Novel

Yesterday, I was at The Book Diva's Reads and shared my thoughts on selling your first novel. Don't forget to enter my giveaway for a $75 Amazon gift card as part of The Disappearing Girl tour.

The thing that I never realized after writing my first novel, the aptly named First Visions, is that putting the story to paper was the easy part. Everything else involved with selling a book would be the cause of my sleepless nights and nail biting.


I was completely clueless after I wrote First Visions. I knew very little about the book blogging community, honestly I never even heard of Goodreads. Most of the information I learned about book publishing and marketing came from Absolute Write, a forum for authors. It is hard for me to fathom that this was only last year.


Querying my first novel was such an eye-opening experience. The one thing I learned is that you shouldn't query every single agent you can find contact information on. If you want to sell your book, find the agents that are looking for manuscripts within your genre. AgentQuery is a fabulous resource to find information on agents that are accepting submissions. Read guidelines closely to avoid ending up in the slush pile.


Selling your first novel may also be the first time you experience the worst type of ego bruising. Expect to hear back from agents and publishers with phrases such as “not for me,” “didn't connect with me,” and “nope.” Do not let them break you! Be strong, author, and keep writing. Agents and publishers may ask you to revise and resubmit. This can help get you closer to an offer as well as improve the quality of your manuscript.


With First Visions, I did receive several offers through small publishing houses. Ultimately though, I decided to self-publish the novel. This is not an easy or inexpensive route and although I've been successful, I've put a lot of work into marketing my books. I'm working with Crescent Moon Press for an upcoming series and it has been less stressful to hand over cover and editing duties to them.


Once my book was released, successful marketing was a trial and error process. Book tours are a great way to get the word out about your novel. It can also help your book get reviews on Goodreads and book retailer sites. Other successful promotions I’ve done are sponsorships through Kindle Nation Daily and BookBub. Offering your book for free as part of the KDP Select program on Amazon can also help boost sales.


I hope this helps new and aspiring authors avoid some of the mistakes I made. But above all else, writing should be fun! Even if the sales don't happen, you should be proud that you accomplished something that many other people were unable to do.

Writer Wednesday: 5 Reasons to Write New Adult

It’s New!

New Adult is like a shiny new toy, there’s a big demand for it. If you look at the top 100 books on Amazon.com, you’re likely to find that many of them come from the New Adult genre. Book retailers have noticed the demand and Amazon recently officially added New Adult & College as a category.

You Can Take Risks

If you write young adult, you have to restrict the content. If you don’t, you’re going to ruffle a lot of feathers. A lot of readers don’t want to see books labeled young adult with the f-bomb or a lot of sexy time between the characters. With New Adult, your main characters can go beyond first base! The characters are in college, so getting busy isn’t as frowned upon like books with high school students.

Unique Experiences

College is the time of many firsts, which can inspire plenty of story ideas. College kids are often living on their own for the first time and experiencing the freedom of not having to answer to their parents. College is also often the time when you must decide what you plan to do with the rest of your life. I know I struggled with choosing a career (hence the four major changes lol) and writers can share stories about these issues.

Twenty-Something Issues

College isn’t the only experience that can be found in New Adult literature. Writers can explore topics that are also important to the age group, which may include getting engaged, pregnancy, military deployment, etc. In The Disappearing Girl, I focused on eating disorders because I feel that a lot of people in this age group face this problem.

Tight Knit Writing Community

New Adult writers are very supportive of each other. When I first started writing, new adult was a new term being tossed around and other authors from the genre really helped me understand the appeal of the genre and how to write books that fit into this category. There are so many blogs, Goodreads groups and Facebook groups around now that can help new and aspiring writers of NA.

One-Year Book Anniversary (Sort-Of)

January marks my one-year anniversary of when I started my journey as a novelist. It’s around this time that I started working on my first two releases: Shattered Love and First Visions. I have to say I didn’t know jack back then about publishing, blogging and book marketing. After a year, I’ve learned so much, a lot that has been taught to me by fellow bloggers and writers.

The main thing I’ve taken away from this experience is that you can’t just write a book. This is what I did with Shattered Love. Although I’m glad I wrote this novel before my Second Sight series, my inexperience is one of the reasons I pulled the book from publication. I go back and forth on whether I want to revise the book and put it back out there, but I’m not sure. Although I liked the premise when I wrote it, I’ve lost my faith in the book and I’m uncertain whether it’s worth a revisit. With First Visions, I invested the money in editing and marketing because of my belief in Kate and her story. Without putting up initial money to get my book out there, I don’t believe it would’ve done as well as how it has done.

I’m extremely pleased with how well the Second Sight series has turned out. I don’t judge my success by only sales numbers, but also by reader comments. This is one of the reasons I like the free days on Amazon, I feel it gets my book in the hands of readers that end up loving the books after stumbling upon them. If you’re a writer and you’re unsure about the KDP program, I recommend giving it a go. It has been especially helpful in increasing sales for my sequel New Revelations.

I give props to all of my fellow writers out there. This is a tough business! It has been a year of ups and downs, failures and successes. I appreciate the support and that’s why I’m always open to returning the favor, whether it is a guest spot on my blog or requesting a book review.

I’m glad that I’ve met so many wonderful people through the blogger community because I’ve had almost as much fun book blogging as I’ve had writing. It’s been a crazy year for sure, but not one I’ll ever regret.

First Person Versus Third Person Narrative Mode

The Memory Witch is my first ever attempt at writing in the first person. Because of the plot—a girl has her memories stolen away—I knew it was important to not head hop. I wanted everything to be told from Quinn’s perspective only.

Writing in first person past tense was a challenge. You’re really limiting POV and it was a tough switch after writing in third person for so long. Since the POV is only told from Quinn’s perspective, I found myself relying on certain plot devices to move the story along. For instance, since there’s a mystery that Quinn must unravel, she had to overhear certain conversations to learn more clues about her past.  

First person writing can also sound wooden and unnatural. It’s easy to end up with a narrative that has many sentences like “I went here” and “I did this.” Since Quinn is relaying the story to the reader, it was up to her to keep the story interesting and portray the secondary characters in a way that readers could connect with.

Although it was tough, I liked what it could achieve. I feel readers may be able to connect more with a character when first person is used. The story reads like a diary and I like the intimacy of the narrative mode.

What are your preferences as a reader and writer? Do you tend to like books with first person or third person POVs? Have you seen books where both are used? 

Looking Back at NaNoWriMo

Yay! I won! My first NaNoWriMo was a complete success and I'm happy to report that my first novel in a new series is now undergoing edits. The book is called The Memory Witch and here's the synopsis:

Ten years ago, Quinn Jacobs’ mother made a bargain with a local witch—steal away Quinn’s memories from the first eight years of her life and in return, Quinn would spend a year in servitude to the witch.

On Quinn’s eighteenth birthday, she’s forced to leave her home and friends behind. For the next year, she’ll live at the Chadwick House, learning everything she needs to know about being a spellcaster. As her powers emerge, Quinn begins to unravel the secrets of the past and the reason her mother was so desperate to conceal the horrifying truth. 

That's the rough draft of my synopsis. I'll be editing the book now while also working continuously on the third book in the Second Sight series. It's been interesting to write the books simultaneously for several reasons. For one, The Memory Witch is the first novel I've written in first person. Also, Quinn's voice is very different than Kate Edwards.

Thanks to everyone for their support during the NaNoWriMo craziness.

Remnants of Life Blog Tour Stop

Today, I'm very excited to welcome Georgia L. Jones. Check out her guest post and read all about her fabulous books!

First of all, I would like to thank Heather's Book Chatter for having me as a Guest.  I always appreciate opportunities to talk to fans and reach new ones as well.  

I have always enjoyed reading, especially in the fantasy genre.  I have also always enjoyed writing.  When I began Legends of Darkness back in early 2010 I really wasn't intending on it becoming a series book.  I have read a lot of series books and enjoy them, but I didn't start the series with the those intentions in mind.  I had been thinking of the concept of Legends for about a year before I began writing it.  I was working through the details of finding something fresh.  I was actually bored with same old concept of vampires and wanted to spin it on its ear.  I wanted to find something that would be as shocking and different as Bram Stokers Dracula was back in 1897.  I just wanted a fresh concept and an explanation for why they are considered to be evil.  Once I found my beginning I began writing.  

Legends begin with just an average woman who dies in an unfortunate accident.  She leaves behind a life of family and friends.  She is thrown into an afterlife where she becomes Samoda, a Warrior in the army of Nuem.  She is not only a Warrior but destined to become a leader in this army.  Through her struggles with the afterlife, we learn many things about the species that she has become and about the hierarchy of all the species that exist in the Remnants of Life stories.  The Warriors have been on earth since before humans existed. They were made to destroy evil, it is innate to them and they really can't help it.  I intertwine the story of the Warriors with legends of vampires.  I mix it up a little and make Vlad Tepes a really bad guy.  In Legends he fell in love with one of the Warriors and when she denied him, he became filled with vengeance towards all of them.  He began to do horrible things and blame it on them.  He falsely accused them of being evil vampires that were nothing more than blood sucking killers.  When this happened they began to stay away from humans as much as possible.  I have created the Warriors as "Dangerous Saviors". ..They are here to protect the world from demons that continuously plot to take over the human race and sometimes really evil humans just get in their path and they can't help but destroy them as well. 

Witches, the second book in the Remnants series, is due to be out on December 1, 2012.  It is a continuation of the story, but from the perspective of a seemingly human woman, Kali Rose Marriott. Her life becomes entangled with the Warriors and well...all hell breaks loose.  In Witches, I get a little more involved in world building as I being to really take on Atheria and Vicus, which are the two places that the other species reside when they are not here either saving the humans or trying to take us over.

I anticipate the Remnants of Life Series to be five books long.  I am currently working on the third book in the series.  As I said earlier when I began writing Legends, I did not know it would become a series book.  As I worked on Legends, it evolved not only in my mind but on paper.  I began outlining the whole series as I wrote the first book.  Some of the storylines have varied a little from the beginning outline, but for the most part it has stayed on course with that original outline. In light of vampires being used so much in books today, I believe the Remnants series gives a completely fresh idea to the concept.  

I’m always glad to get feedback from fans.  Please visit WWW.GEORGIALJONES.COM  to learn more about me and my writing.

Remnants of Life Series Tour

Presented by First Rule PR

Tour URL: http://www.firstrulepublicity.com/current-tours/remnants-of-life/

Remnants of Life: Legends of Darkness by Georgia L. Jones

Genre: Urban Fantasy
181 pages

Dangerous Saviors… What would you do if your life rested in the hands of something that really wanted to eat you? Come journey through the realms of the next world where everything you know about Good and Evil are put to the test.

Samantha Garrett lives and dies a good life in the human world. She awakens a new creature, Samoda, a vampire-like warrior in the army of Nuem. She is forced to realize that she has become a part of a world that humans believe to be only “Legends of Darkness.” Samoda finds her new life is entwined with the age old story of greed, love, betrayal, and vengeance.

Join our heroine as she battles not just for her own existence, but for the entire human race’s future.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Georgia L. Jones was born in Columbia, Missouri on September 21st, 1968. In 1992 she settled in the beautiful Ozarks town of Lebanon, Missouri, where she met and married the love of her life. Together they have raised 7 children and have the 8th still in their home.

At a young age Georgia learned the value of getting lost in a good book. She has always enjoyed reading and letting her imagination run wild. In her early teenage years she began to put her own stories down on paper as she plunked out the words on an old manual typewriter.

In 1996 Georgia enrolled at Missouri State University where she majored in Psychology. While there she found an untamable thirst for Philosophy and Greek Mythology. Many evenings she can still be found curled up with one of the great Greek Tragedy’s or reading about personal continuity by Rene Descarte.

Over the years Georgia has harbored the dream of being a published author and written many short stories. On January 10, 2010 she embarked on the dream as she began to bring the characters from her first novel, “Legends of Darkness”, to life. Upon completion in June 2010 she realized that it was not a single book but a series and created the concept of the series “Remnants of Life”. She is currently working diligently on the “Remnants of Life” series.

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS

 SAMODA'S FACEBOOK PAGE http://www.facebook.com/remnantsoflife

AUTHOR'S FACEBOOK PAGE  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Remnants-of-Life/153669898006729

 TWITTER -- https://twitter.com/georgiagljones

             WEBSITE http://www.georgialjones.com/      

How to Meet Deadlines and Remain Sane

This was another guest post as part of my blog tour. I shared a few tips on how to manage your workload. I find it very applicable now that I'm more than halfway through NaNoWriMo.

I work as both a novelist and freelance article writer. This means twice the number of deadlines I have to meet. I’m also a mother to two very wild boys under the age of five. When I look at my schedule some days, my first instinct is to crawl under the covers and hide. However, with some good organization, you can get deadlines met and not lose your mind.

Tune It All Out

I have a hard time focusing on my work when I’m logged onto a computer. In the middle of working, I’ll stop to check my email, Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads accounts. You’re not going to miss much if you don’t look at your social networks every ten minutes! Try to keep your internet browser closed when you’re working and create set times to check it. You’ll find you’re much more efficient and meet deadlines without cutting it down to the wire.

Prioritize

One of my most annoying qualities is that I’m a “yes” person. I have a hard time turning down projects or telling someone I’m unable to help them out. If you have a deadline, the work needs to be your top priority. Spreading yourself too thin will only make you crazy and affect the quality of your writing.

Get Unstuck

When you’re hung up on a scene of your book, it can bring everything to a scratching halt. Instead of trying to work out the scene, skip it. Writing additional scenes may help you work out the plot and dialogue naturally. If you’re looking for inspiration, consider going back and re-reading parts of your manuscript. It may spark an idea or help you recapture the character’s voice.

Ask for Help

If you have other commitments, don’t be afraid to ask for help as you try to reach that deadline. For instance, having your mother come over for a few hours to watch your kids while you work can make a huge difference.

If you absolutely can’t meet that deadline, talk to your editor. See if something can be worked out. Life is crazy and things come up. Be honest and give a reasonable timeframe on when you can have the work to them.   

How to Avoid the Rejection Blues

As a part of my blog tour, I wrote a guest post about how to bounce back after having your manuscript rejected. Make sure to check out the stops on my tour to enter for a chance to win an Amazon Kindle or an Amazon Gift Card.

Being rejected by an agent or publisher can be par for the course when you’re a writer. Although you know in your head that you’re more likely to be rejected than accepted, it usually can’t stop your inner monologue. Why did they tell me no? Should I give up writing completely? Why can’t they see the sheer genius on the page?

Well, don’t break out the booze and tissues just yet. Writers today have plenty of ways to get over the heartbreak of having their manuscript rejected.

Learn from the Experience

Due to the high number of submissions, agents and publishers tend to use form rejection letters. However, a few editors may take the time to offer feedback with their rejection letter. Use these suggestions to improve your manuscript. Resubmit with a note letting the editor know you’ve made the requested changes and ask if they would be willing to give it a second look.

Review Guidelines

You could be just sending your work to the wrong agents and publishers. Find agent and publisher contact information through sites like Agent Query and Preditors and Editors. Check the websites of the contact to see their submission requirements. If your manuscript doesn’t meet these requirements, it will automatically end up in the slush pile.

Make a Plan B

Going indie is tres hip these days. Many of writers are starting out through small publishers or self-publishing and finding plenty of success. If you have a good book and a marketing plan, you can do really well on your own. Also, for subsequent novels, publishers and agents will take notice if you were able to move a decent amount of copies on your own.

Whatever you do, don’t stop writing! Writing should be fun and you don’t want bad feelings associated with something you love doing. Just focus on the work and tune out any negative influences.

Why Book Covers Are So Important

Make sure to pop over to one of my blog tour stops to enter the New Revelations Kindle Giveaway. On Friday, my guest post about book covers appeared on Mom With a Kindle.

Think of your book cover like the initial impression given on a first date. On the date, do you want to appear sloppy and wear a haphazardly thrown together ensemble? Not if you want to see your date ever again. Book covers need to be attractive while also conveying what your novel is about.

 

Have you ever avoided a book because of the cover? Many readers will be turned off by amateurish looking covers. I personally have skipped a few books despite rave reviews because of covers. It’s presumptuous, but I figure the writing and plot will be as unappealing as the front image.

If you’re self-publishing and have no idea about cover creation, consider hiring someone. There are graphic artists who will design gorgeous covers for you from scratch. Give them some conceptual information to work from and be an active part of the process. Also, there are book marketing companies that have pre-made book cover designs for sale. Browse through their catalogs to see if you find any suitable to your novel.

 

If you’re comfortable working with photo editing software and want to do your book cover on a budget, then you can make one yourself. Before you go down this road, make sure that the images you use meet the specifications for book retailers. For instance, paperback covers made through Createspace require a minimum resolution of 300 dpi.

 

Start out with an image. Stock photography images can be purchased online or you can use your own personal photo library as a starting point. Choose an image that represents your book. Girls in pretty dresses are a popular choice, but don’t always relate to the content inside of the novel. Choose a couple of selections before making your final decision. Play around with fonts and colors when adding title and author name. Show a few mock-ups to friends and fellow writers to receive feedback on which one to settle on.

 

Don’t use a cover for your book unless you love it. With an attractive cover, you’ll gain readers who are interested in the novel based solely on the front image. This will build readership and ideally help increase your fanbase.     

 

Tackling NaNoWriMo

With the exception of living under a rock, if you're a writer, you've likely heard of National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo. I was hesitant at first to commit to something like this since the gist involves writing approximately 2,000 words a day for 30 days. The goal is to have 50,000 words to your name by the end of the month. 

My hesitation came from November being a CRAZY month for me. I'll be promoting New Revelations through my blog tour, writing freelance articles and juggling the boys' hectic schedules. However, the more excuses I came up with, I decided to say hell with it and do it anyway. I'll either have to ease up on my blogging schedule or trim back on my article writing.

I'm a little bit on the fence about what to write as part of NaNoWriMo. Do I write the next book in the Second Sight series? Or would this be a good opportunity to start the first book in a new series I've been toying around with in my head?

By the way, my username is woodtop255 if anyone would like to be my writing buddy =)

Results of KDP Select Promotion

Crazy busy week guys! My oldest started kindergarten yesterday and mom cried enough tears to fill up a couple of buckets. On top of that, I’ve been trying to get ready for my book signing on Saturday. Flyers are printed, prizes have been purchased and books are ready to go. Now it’s just time to hope that the weather is nice and I have some visitors to my lil’ old stand. If you’re in the central NJ area-come on out to see me! Here’s the link with the info.    

Well, I wanted to talk today about KDP Select. I actually did it. I drank the Kool-Aid. And although it’s killing me to admit it-my first experience with Amazon’s program has turned out pretty fabulous.

When I first published First Visions, I decided against KDP Select. It just seemed to make more sense to offer up my novel on as many platforms as possible. However, each month that went by, I found it hard to ignore my sales figures. I sold at least ten times the amount of books on Amazon as Smashwords and Barnes and Noble combined. After I ran into a distribution issue on Smashwords, I decided to give KDP Select a shot.

To sign up for KDP Select, you have to offer up exclusive rights to the ebook version of your novel for 90 days. During the 90 days, you are allowed to choose five free days to promote your book and the book is placed in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.

To prepare for my free day, I submitted my book to sites that advertise free Kindle books. I did this about a week before my scheduled promotion. This included Pixel of Ink, eReader News and Digital Book Today. These sites did not charge a fee for submission. Keep in mind though that free submission sites do not usually guarantee your book will be listed. If you want more of a guarantee, you may want to go for a paid advertising option like Kindle Nation Daily. On the actual promotion day, I announced my book was free via my blog, Facebook page and Twitter. I also tagged my book as free on Amazon.com that morning.

When I checked in the morning of my free promotion day, I had a very modest number of downloads. I was still thrilled though because even if I had a handful of downloads, it still means more people are reading my book. Then, suddenly by the afternoon, the numbers of downloads were steadily climbing to crazy high numbers. I’m definitely not the most confident person in the world, so of course I thought it must be a glitch in the system and the numbers couldn’t actually be accurate.

KDP Select has some rules about releasing sales information, but I can tell you that downloads went well into the five figure range. And here’s the screenshot of First Visions when it hit #3 in Amazon’s Top 100 Free!

It’s been a little over a week since my free promotion day and sales have been really great. Through the Labor Day weekend, First Visions stayed within the top 500 to 1,000 on Amazon. Today, I’m around 2,500 in the Kindle Store and still in the Top 100 for Teen Love and Romance. By the way, if you want access to a great tool for authors, check out the free ebook tracker from Kindle NationDaily. It monitors your rank so you don’t have to keep logging on Amazon.com every hour.

Not only did I sell more copies, I’ve made some new fans =) New ratings and reviews have popped up along with a handful of emails from readers who really enjoyed Kate’s story.

I know this is only one experience, so I’m curious about how other authors have fared. Would you renew enrollment? How did subsequent free promotion days go?    

Paid Book Promotions-What Works and What Doesn’t

Since May 1 when I released First Visions, I’ve done a number of book promotions. This has been really a trial and error process for me as I tracked sales in correlation to each promotion. This is only my personal experience and many indie writers could have very different results.

Virtual Book Tours

I can’t rave enough about doing a blog tour for your book. I had such a great experience during both my tours and they probably offered up the best value as far as paid promotional opportunities. A month long tour through Reading Addiction Virtual Book Tours costs around $100 and includes 20 stops. For a two week tour through Bewitching Book Tours, you’ll pay around $50 and stop at 10 blogs.

Why do a blog tour? Because you’re expanding your readership at each stop on your tour. Tour stops can include an interview, excerpt and guest post. My favorite part of my blog tours is that many of the blogs reviewed First Visions. When you don’t have that many reviews, this can be extremely helpful.

As far as sales, I did see a significant jump. During the tours (which I scheduled back to back for six weeks), I was selling about double the number of copies I had been averaging before the tour started.

Kindle Nation Daily Sponsorship

This promotion is definitely one of the priciest of the ones I tried. However, if you have the budget, I HIGHLY recommend it! The package I purchased included an ebook of the day sponsorship and a free excerpts email blast. The ebook of the day post includes a widget and sample of your book featured on Kindle Nation Daily, Book Gorilla and Book Lending.com. The email blast sends out a 5,000 to 20,000 word excerpt to 30,000 opted in email subscribers. Cost of the package was $300.

On May 31, my email blast was scheduled through Kindle Nation Daily. On the day before my sponsorship, my Amazon.com sales rank was 24,093. The day of my sponsorship, First Visions peaked at 5,364.

For the August 1 ebook of the day sponsorship, my Amazon.com sales rank the day before was 10,246. During the sponsorship, First Visions peaked at 3,550. Sales did well following the sponsorships as well.

Google Ads

I’ve heard authors that like Google ads to market their books, but I’m unsure if I will use it for my next book. The major advantage of Google ads are they are ideal if you’re looking for a low cost marketing opportunity. You can deposit $20 and set a low daily budget to keep your ads running for a few weeks. They also have plenty of promotions for first time users (I had a $100 free credit for my first ads). I earned a significant number of clicks and impressions, but didn’t see a huge jump in book sales. However, if you’re only paying $2.00 a day, selling only one extra copy a day of a $2.99 ebook would make you break even.

Blog Ads

For me, blog ads didn’t have a major effect on my sales. I signed up for a week-long promotion and chose four different book blogs for my ad to appear. The cost was $50 and prices were based on the number of site views each blog averaged daily. To be honest, the ads were pretty expensive and I didn’t see any difference in the number of the copies sold during that week.   

After careful consideration, I decided to enroll First Visions in the KDP Select program for three months. Although I have mixed feelings about the program, it’s hard not to admit how the vast majority of my sales come from Amazon.com. I also feel it would be a good way to introduce readers to the series before my second book comes out in October. My first free day will be August 28. Here’s the link to the Kindle version: First Visions: Second Sight Book One.

Liebster Blog Award

The Inky Melody was kind enough to nominate me for the Liebster Blog Award! This award is for bloggers with less than 200 followers. Here are the rules to receive the award:

1. Each person must post 11 random facts about themselves.

2. Answer 11 questions the tagger has given you and give 11 questions for the people you tagged.

3. Choose 11 people and mention them in your post

4. Tell them you've tagged them

5. Remember, no tag backs.

Part 1: 11 Random Facts

1. I LOVE musicals and sometimes bust out in song in an attempt to turn my life into a Glee episode.
2. I have an eight year old pug and chihuahua mix (chipugua?)  named Roxy.
3. I have a fear of someone hiding behind shower curtains and have to open them first before I use a bathroom.
4. I hate when someone texts back "ok" or "k" to confirm they have received my text.
5. I've tried every fad diet in the book including the horrible Master Cleanse.
6. I have no idea what to name the sequel to my first novel.
7. I only like to drink room temperature water.
8. I've been dying my hair religiously since I was 16.
9. My first freelance writing job was for a senior citizen magazine (I was 24 at the time).
10. I have bad luck when it comes to laptops and usually need a new one each year.
11. Although I lived a block from the beach, my family used to go to a lake 20 minutes away because we all hate waves.

Part 2: Answer 11 Questions

1. What is your favorite number between one and ten?
7!
2. Do you listen to music while you write? Or if you're not writing, then while you're doing schoolwork, or chores?
Sometimes I do, it depends on my mood. For tough scenes in my book, I usually prefer absolute silence.
3. Vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry, or does it matter for each kind of dessert (say, you like chocolate ice cream better than strawberry, but you prefer vanilla cake over chocolate)?
Chocolate always!
4. Do you mainly read one genre of book, or do you like to branch out?
I prefer YA novels, but I do branch out. Other genres I enjoy include paranormal romance, contemporary romance, thrillers and the occasional historical romance.
5. What is your absolute favorite genre (or two, if it comes down to that)?
YA paranormal romance and contemporary romance
6. What is your favorite time of day? What is your favorite time of day to read?
I'm definitely a morning person, but I usually read at night once the little terrors go to bed.
7. Nonfiction or fiction? Why? 
Fiction usually, but I'll pick up the occasional crime novel.
8. Of the core subjects (English, Math, Science, or Social Studies), which is your favorite? Why?
English of course! Since middle school, I've been writing stories and have been an avid reader.
9. Do you show your writing to other people easily, or do you prefer to have it perfected as much as possible before you share? Do you think your writing is personal on a deep level, and therefore you tend to keep it to yourself, or do you think that your writing is to be shared with the world, and therefore you'll easily hand it over for friends to read? Again, if you're not much of a writer, than how about your reading material? Will you show people what you're reading, or are you shy about it?
I'm a spaz when it comes to sharing. I'd probably be more prone to sharing unfinished pieces with strangers than family or friends. My writing is so personal to me, so I would be really hurt if they didn't like it.
10. Is there a certain type of animal that you love (or are obssessed about)? Is there a certain group of animals (such as cats and tigers and lions, etc. or wolves and dogs and meerkats, etc.)?
My five-year-old son is absolutely fascinated by sting rays, so I've gotten really into them.
11. Do you have any weird eating habits, and if so, what are they?
I get kind of obsessed with chewing gum while I write and can go through a couple of packs in a sitting.

Part 3: My 11 Questions
1. City or country?
2. What's your favorite part about blogging?
3. What's your dream vacation spot?
4. What writer do you admire the most?
5. What's your favorite book of all-time?
6. What's your favorite social networking site?
7. How many books do you read on average per month?
8. What book genre do you avoid the most?
9. What's the last movie you watched?
10. What's your favorite snack to have on hand when writing or reading?
11. What's the best piece of writing advice you ever received?

My 11 nominees (although I'm not sure how many followers everyone has):

Jo Michaels
The Adventures Within
Have You Heard My Book Review?
Books, College and Other Random Things
The Queen of Teen Fiction
Olivia's Bookaholic Life
Just Can't Beat Books
Book Nerd
Purple Jelly Bean Chair Reviews
T.L. Bodine
Liberty's Yarn

How to Promote a Book on Twitter (Without Being an Annoying Spammer)

Earlier in the week Storm Goddess Book Reviews let me stop by their blog as part of my promo stop for Bewitching Book Tours. Besides a review and giveaway, I also providing a guest post about using Twitter to promote your book. Check out the entire promo stop and leave a comment for a chance to enter my giveaway for a $20 Amazon gift card and an autographed copy of my novel. Details of the contest are here and the entry form can be found on my Facebook page.

I’m sure you’ve come across a few irksome authors on Twitter: They start following you. You’re pleased to see you have a fellow writer following you and decide to follow back. Within seconds, your email inbox chimes letting you know Mr. Author has sent you a direct message on Twitter. Mr. Author invites you to download a free excerpt, use this coupon for a discount off his novel or purchase his novel on Amazon and write a review. Say what? I don’t even kiss on the first date, buddy and now I’m expected to spend my hard-earned cash on some random writer who follows me on Twitter?

Not the best social media strategy in my opinion. Five gazillion Tweets a day about how your book is complete awesomeness isn’t going to win you many fans as well. However, Twitter doesn’t have to be a complete waste of an author’s time. Here are a couple quick tips:

1) Make what you say count. You only have 140 characters, so make the most of them. Don’t overstuff each Tweet with too many hashtags, instead only stick with a maximum two. And definitely don’t continue send out a string of Tweets to complete a single thought.

2) Use Twitter to promote book giveaways. If you’re having a giveaway, you may require participants to follow you on Twitter or Tweet about the giveaway to enter. This is a great way to build more followers and bring more attention to your book.

3) Develop good Twitter relationships with other authors. Retweet their posts and follow each one back. Reply back if a user comments on one of your Tweets.

4) Schedule your Tweets. This can build your audience since international users may not be seeing your Tweets. I use Twuffer, but there are a ton of apps available.

You really need to keep up with all social media platforms. Create connections on Facebook, LinkedIn, Goodreads and Pinterest to reach as many readers as possible. Don’t only post about your book. Share the love by commenting on other authors’ posts or even taking the time to share reviews on their novels.

Bringing the Funny-How to Add Humor to Novels

This week I stopped by Fangtastic Books to discuss adding humor when you're writing. Check out the entire promo stop and leave a comment for a chance to enter my giveaway for a $20 Amazon gift card and an autographed copy of my novel. Details of the contest are here and the entry form can be found on my Facebook page.

If you read my blurb for First Visions, you probably wouldn’t think there’s much room for humor in the novel. The basic plot is a psychic is enlisted to help on a case to find an abducted child. Not exactly knee slapping material. However, I think adding some levity to a novel can really diffuse the tension and prevent a book from becoming overly melodramatic.

Here are a few tips:

1) Create a character that says basically everything you wish you could. The character of Kate in First Visions is an uncensored version of me. My sense of humor leans towards the snarky and sarcastic side, but since I actually want to keep my friends, I never say half the things I’m thinking.

2) Find inspiration in the people around you. Although I try not to base too many of my characters off of people I know (you know how many friends swear they are the bitchy girlfriend in First Visions?), I do add their quirks for some laughs in my stories.

3) Decide on the type of humor you want to add into your novel. Some people may find toilet humor the highest level of hilarity while others find comedy in parody and satire. Kate is sarcastic which may not endear her to all readers, but I found it worked best for the story and the character. Kate’s best friend has a boyfriend Gage who is more a fan of low brow humor since it worked with his characterization.

4) Make the situations you place the characters in funny. I think my strength lies in funny dialogue, but situational humor can also be great for a story. One instance in my book occurs when the detective tries to have a moment with Kate and takes her to feed the ducks. The geese end up charging her for the bag of bread and she has to run for cover. Other examples of situational humor in stories I’ve scene is mistaken identity (art professor thinks the handsome cop is at her studio for the nude model audition) or physical comedy (the princess makes her grand entrance into the ball by falling flat on her face).

Making Time to Write With Kids

I’m sure the following scene will sound familiar to other mothers who are writers:


His hand reached for her and she felt his touch awaken something deep within her soul…

“MOM! Luke is being mean to me!”

“Hold on, boys, give me one second!”

Her eyes drank in every inch of him and she knew this night would change her life irrevocably…

“MOM! Luke is chasing me with a fork!”

“Ok, ok, I’m coming.”

Let me start off by saying I LOVE my boys. Being a mom is the most rewarding and awesome thing I’ve ever done in my life. But it can also suck out all of your energy. After a long day of taking care of two little ones under the age of five, I’m not exactly feeling the creative juices flowing (it’s more like I’m cleaning up the spilled juices). However, I think it’s very important to keep up with your writing and carve out time for it each day. Here are a few tips I can offer up:

1) Invest in some Benadryl. No, I’m totally kidding. But if you’re lucky enough to have children that nap, take advantage of it. Even if the house looks like a bomb exploded, you can always straighten up later after you’re done writing.

2) Work around their schedules. Kids are busier than most CEOs these days and it’s always good to have a notebook or your laptop on hand to do some writing during after-school practice sessions. Writing after they go to sleep is something that also works very well for me.

3) Enlist help. Since I also write freelance articles, I treat any writing I do as a job. When the hubby gets home from work, it’s often daddy time. I slink off to my office while the boys get some bonding time in. Whoever you can get to help while you write, take advantage of it.

4) Create small and achievable writing goals. Writing 5,000 words per day is not likely to happen when you have little ones at home. Instead, write in small spurts whenever you have the chance. It may be a pain to walk away, but novel creation doesn’t have to stop when you walk away from the computer. I always work out scenes in my head or find inspiration when I’m taking walks with the boys.

Keep writing mommies!