What’s Your Heat Level?
October 5, 2022 by Tracy Reed in category WritingHappy October. I’ve got a question for you. What’s your heat level? Recently, I was asked a similar question about my books and I have to admit I was a little off base on a few of them.
A few posts back, I mentioned I had hired a PA. She’s been extremely helpful. In the beginning of our working arrangement, she asked me about the heat level on one of my books. I have to admit I was at a loss. What I thought and the reality were completely different.
In the past, when someone asked me that question I would refer to my books as more sensual sometimes a little steamy. However, there was a book my PA was setting up a swap for and I wasn’t quite sure of the heat level. She sent me a heat level chart and I was a little surprised where some of my books landed on the chart.
Talk about an eye opener…this little chart revealed a truth I didn’t really want to know, the majority of my books are not just Steamy, they’re also Sexy. Sometimes very Sexy. However, I have a book that unbeknownst to me, lands in the gray space between Sexy/Steamy and Erotic. I really didn’t want to admit this so I asked my godsister who had read an ARC for the book and she agreed it fell into the gray zone.
The heat level of some of my books is the reason I had to hire a new editor. In my defense, not all of my books fall into the Sexy/Steamy category. I have some that are Wholesome/Clean and Sweet. Those are either novellas, prequels or series starters.
Here’s how I write some of my series. I loop you in with a Sweet book and as the series progresses the stories get steamier. It’s like a slow build up. I’ve hinted at the sensuality so by the time the reader gets to book three or the end of book two [if it’s a big book], they are begging for the characters to go further.
Now I will admit, sometimes I don’t see the intense heat some of my readers see. I’ve had reviews that were a little shocking but that’s a matter of opinion. I had one review that said they couldn’t make it past chapter four. She went so far as to call it soft porn. I may write a little steamy, but I don’t write porn. No offense to those that write and read porn. Back to this review, I felt sorry for her, because she missed out on a great book. I also had a review praise me for the sexy love scenes. That one makes up for the other review. When it comes to heat levels it’s a little subjective. What one person finds Sexy/Steamy someone else considers Sensual/Medium Heat.
I have one book to this day I really don’t know how Amazon managed to class it as Erotic Poetry. My mother and I have had several conversations about it, however she agrees with Amazon. She said it’s the implied tone. Just last week, my book LOVE NOTES, was the #1 free book in three categories…Love & Erotic Poetry, Poetry About Love and my personal favorite category…One-Hour Parenting & Relationships Short Reads on Amazon.
I can understand Poetry About Love and I’ll even acquiesce to Love & Erotic Poetry. However, I’m flabbergasted at One-Hour Parenting & Relationships Short Reads. My mother told me to stop complaining, because the book gets me noticed. She’s right. I’m also often trading top spots in the Love & Erotic category with The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe. So I guess I’m in great author company.
Back to my original question…what’s your heat level? Check the chart below and see where your books land.
ROMANCE NOVEL HEAT LEVELS
Wholesome/Clean
!
Chats kisses, holding hands, and hugging. No love scenes – not even closed door. Just lots of emotion
Sweet
! !
Sex is implied. Closed door/morning after for intercourse. Any sexual activity would be vague on detail, heavy on emotion
Sensual/Medium Heat
! ! !
Sexual chemistry is heating up. Love scenes on page and described but still lighter on detail with strong emotional component.
Sexy/Steamy
! ! ! !
Sex is man component of the plot and is on-page and explicit. Swearing/dirty talk is frequent. Light kink/user-friendly sex toys might make an appropriate appearance. HEA.
Erotic Romance
! ! ! ! !
LOTS of sex, graphic, detailed, often kinky, non-conventional, and boundary-pushing. Sex is a big part of story line but still a HEA.
Rewrite Retreat
September 5, 2022 by Tracy Reed in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed
Happy September and Happy Labor Day.
Last month I did something I have never done before…a writing retreat. I did this because I needed to rewrite my November release. I wrote this series several years ago, when I was just starting my writing career. My writing style changed and the characters needed to be seasoned.
Most of the characters I write are Christian and are figuring out life while loving God. However, this series needed a lot of work. The story sounded a little preachy and that’s not what I wanted.
I had a 100K plus word book that was horribly written and incomplete. When I put this book on my production schedule for this year. I thought it just needed to be cleaned up. I had no idea it needed to be rewritten.
I took a break from my last project before starting on this one. Once I started reading to refresh my memory. I realized I was going to need more time to complete it. I pushed the release date out as fas as I could…November 29th. I’m not exactly pleased with the release date, but I’ve got no choice. I’m releasing a non-holiday romance during the holiday season.
How did I do with my writing retreat? I ended the week a few words short of 40K. I missed my goal of 60-65K words, but I was pleased with what I accomplished.
So here I am at the midnight hour trying to finish my book. The original book had some good parts which I was able to use. Let me clarify. Although the original book in its entirety wasn’t good, I still wanted to use the core story. When I made the decision, to do a major rewrite, it opened the door to a new ending and the possibility of another book. Or maybe a spin off for one of the characters.
The other thing I’m doing I probably shouldn’t is add to the series without reading the previous books. I know this isn’t very wise, but I was able to get away with it, because the book isn’t really a continuation, but more of a connected book. Not reading the other books in the series may not seem like the smartest thing to do, but only time will tell.
I was a little concerned about the word count because I’m close to 100K words. Then I checked the other books and was reminded they are 90K+, which made me feel a lot better about the word count.
As of this post, I am 3300+ words away from the end. I set a goal of today to complete the book and begin the first round of edits. Let’s see what happens.
Some of Tracy’s Books
Who’s On Your Team?
August 5, 2022 by Tracy Reed in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed tagged as PAs, personal assistants, promotion, team
Hi, please forgive my post replay. I’m in the middle of edits. I selected this post because I’m beefing up my PA’s duties. I have come to the realization I need a little more help. Happy June.
Happy August. It’s hard to believe we are in the middle of summer. I’ll keep it brief.
I did something a little presumptive or not very smart. The past two years have been a lot different. Most of us probably didn’t stick to our writing schedules. In an attempt to get back on track this year, I set up three preorders. What was I thinking? Since I’m being transparent, I changed the release date on all three preorders.
I could expound on the many things that contributed to the changes, but I won’t. However, the reasons and changes opened my eyes to something…I needed help…a team.
I’ve been doing well with my intimate production team.…a proof reader (my mom) and an editor. After my last release, my editor and I amended our arrangement. This new arrangement left me in a lurch…she wasn’t exactly on board with the new tone of my books. I like working with her. She understood my stories and she spoke French, which I needed for my series,The Good Girl. However, now she stated she would prefer to only edit sweet, non-sexual content books. Occasionally, I write sweet books and will keep her for those projects.
I freaked out about having to replace my editor. After all, she was half of my team. After my last release, I reached out to a friend who helped me find another editor who is on board with my writing style.
The other thing I realized was I was writing up to the deadline and trying to fit marketing in between craft and graphic design. I booked a few Facebook and BookBub ads. I also booked some newsletter swaps. However, I knew I could do more.
The past several years, I’ve heard other writers talk about their PAs. I longed for a PA, but figured that wasn’t in my budget just yet. But during lockdown, it seemed like more and more writers were talking about their PAs and how helpful they were. Pre-lockdown I reached out to a few PAs and felt as amazing as it sounded to have one, at that time it wasn’t an expense I was ready to take on.
Fast forward to lockdown and an author business workshop and a business book…”We Should All Be Millionaires”…by Rachel Rodgers, I realized not having help was costing me money.
I reached out and asked what an author PA did. I was ignorant. I thought all PAs did was schedule FB parties, newsletter swaps, send out prizes and organize ARC teams. I apologize to every PA out there because I was unaware of the value a good PA offers. I also think one of the issues I had with using a PA was control. I like to or rather I’m use to doing pretty much everything myself. I do my own covers, promotional graphics and ad graphics. I write my own newsletters and social media posts. I have an editor, a proof reader and a couple of beta readers.
If I was going to do this, I needed to know what a PA could do for me. Imagine my shock when I saw the list of things a PA could do that weren’t even on my list…book formatting, managing my social media and GoodReads page, update mailing list, arrange promotions and giveaways. I was intrigued.
I reached out to one of my FB groups for feedback and referrals. However, my friend A.M. Roark hit me up and recommended her PA…Praise Ikeme. We chatted and about an hour later, I knew she would be a good fit for me. I told Praise I wanted to take things slow and once I’ve come to grips with letting go of a few tasks, I’ll hand them off to her.
My dip into the PA water has been very good. I have my PA working with me on newsletter swaps. Within the first twenty-four hours of our arrangement, she had my first two months of swaps scheduled. I like that she sends me reminders, verifies the links on my site for the books I’m swapping. She proofs my newsletter and sends me reminders at the beginning of Newsletter Week.
I have to admit, I wasn’t very consistent when it came to sending out my newsletter. Since hiring my PA, I have a newsletter schedule…twice a month…which I’ve been sticking to. I also use the newsletter copy as blog copy. Thanks to my PA, I’m blogging again…something I hadn’t done in quite a while.
Now my team consists of three people…a proof reader, an editor and a PA. I’m excited and look forward to expanding my team when the time comes.
If you’re looking for a PA, I recommend Praise Ikeme (praiseikeme@gmail.com).
Who’s on your team?
Next month I’ll do a goals update.
Enjoy your summer and happy writing and reading.
Tracy
Mid Year Goal Check
July 5, 2022 by Tracy Reed in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed tagged as #NewRelease, goals, Marketing, Tracy Reed
Happy July and belated Fourth of July. I almost forgot I needed to write a post for today. It’s not an excuse, but a reason. My family was hit with an emergency medical issue with my dad. For the past couple of months our schedules were interrupted. During this period I had a release I couldn’t push back.
I had a plan for how I was going to promote this book, but that never really happened…not fully. With all that was going on in my personal life, I found myself second guessing a few things. How to promote a book in a series when it ends on a cliff? How much should you spend on advertising? What about the cover…is it too racy? And let’s not forget my editor hit me with a major curve.
What was my plan? Run Facebook, BookBub, AMS and newsletter ads. I never got new FB ads up. I turned the AMS off. I’m on the fence about AMS ads. Personally, I think they are more effective for Kindle exclusive authors. I’m wide and I don’t experience the returns Kindle exclusives receive. I did run a BookBub ad which produced wide sales. I never set up newsletter ads.
I hear you saying, “It only takes a few minutes to set up ads.” You’re right, but when you’re juggling unexpected doctors appointments, tests and eventually surgery, ads and writing are the last things on your mind. I was grateful to God, the book was finished and edited. I reached out to a couple of authors for advice on marketing which helped alleviate some anxiety.
So what did I do? I had this book up on preorder for a few months and for the record, these were the most preorders to date in my writing career. I reached out to my author and blogger community for swaps and posts. I ran book one in a free giveaway to draw attention to the series (this really works…this is going to be a part of my release plan). I posted to my socials as well. I ran BookBub ads for the free book one.
How did I do? This was my second release this year. I released part four earlier this year which doubled the sales of book three which was released last year. This release has been out three weeks and so far it has out performed book four in the series.
Did I hit my sales goal? No. But some amazing things did happen.
First sale on Google Play
First preorders on Kobo
Kobo Sales have already surpassed last year’s sales
Most preorders to date in writing career
Preorder for book six (which only has one chapter so far)
Gained new readers and increased read-thru in the series
Best release sales to date
What did I learn with this release? Trust God. I’m not preaching, but being honest. The only way this release did well was because I asked God to help me. I was close to stress mode. The other thing I learned was Pre-Release Prep. There are things I can do now even though the book isn’t complete. I have a cover, but I can create the graphics and blurbs now. I already have the book on preorder and as soon as it’s complete, I’ll set it up at Amazon.
The other Pre-Release Prep I’ve done is hired some help. I realized I needed some help. If I’d had help I would have been able to implement more promotion things and done even better. My PA is already setting up swaps for me.
I’m also going to use some advice I received for the last release which I wasn’t able to, because book one was too small. Apply for a BookBub Featured Deal. There’s a lead-in book which meets the BB requirements. Here’s a tip…if you’re doing a series, try to write book one to the BookBub Featured deal requirement. If not, create a box set which can be a series starter. I’ve already added create a box set for The Good Girl series so I can apply for a BB Featured Deal for Book Six.
Let’s do a quick check on my goals for the year.
Here’s my updated goals list:
Get my letters
Triple my income
Triple my mailing list – Working on this. Added approximately 400 new subscribers so far
Master Facebook ads – I made a change last month to how much I spend and it’s paying off. Last month, I scaled back to one ad and it’s paid off. This one ad for a first in series free has led to sales of the books in two of my other series. I’m going to ride this strategy for a little while before scaling up.
Update covers – 13 covers in total to update. 8 completed.
Learn how to write a sellable blurb
Use Ingram Spark – Launching first books this month
Direct distribution – I started with Nook. So far, it’s worked out. Considering selling ebooks direct from my website.
Increase BookBub US Followers to 1000 – Added two hundred new US followers.
Increase my prices
Release 3 Books – Two down, one to go. I also added three short stories for anthologies. One is. My first Christmas story.
How are you doing with your goals so far?
Tracy’s Books
Tracy Reed has a NEW RELEASE and FREEBIE!
June 20, 2022 by Tracy Reed in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed, Spotlight, Writing tagged as Good Girl part 5, new release, Tracy Reed
Tracy Reed has a NEW RELEASE and FREEBIE!
THE GOOD GIRL Part Five
Gabriella’s decision to become romantically involved with her Billionaire boss, shoots her up the corporate ladder and gives her the happy ending all women wish for. There’s just one problem, she doesn’t want the fantasy.
Excerpt:
GABRIELLA
The problem was simple. I was being thrust into a life I wasn’t sure I could or wanted to handle. It’s one thing to date or be married to a rich guy. But this is different. Phillippe and his family weren’t just rich, they were part of the secret rich. They were the kind of people who build hospitals, community centers, sponsor the arts, fund research, influence politicians…elect politicians.
When things began to get serious, he told me there were things he couldn’t tell me. I just had no idea, they included so many zeroes. I’m not stupid or naive. I knew Phillippe was well off, but this is way beyond my imagination. It’s also a world I’m not sure I want to live in. Sometimes love and great sex aren’t enough to build a marriage on.
PHILLIPPE
I wasn’t used to these feelings. In a matter of months Gabriella had infected my blood stream. I wasn’t the same. I wasn’t a cocky arrogant boorish man. It’s like that man died the moment I laid eyes on the petite curvy ball of love, I was privileged and honored to call my wife.
I thought about going over to the manor, but I didn’t want to face Mere. I was ashamed to tell her, I messed up things and may have lost the love of my life. The other reason I didn’t want to go there was my grandfather. If he were there I don’t think I’d…in my current state, I couldn’t be sure I wouldn’t do him physical harm.
He was the reason I was in this mess. If it hadn’t been for him insisting I get married and me being so stubborn, I never would have gotten involved with Gabriella. Now because of his interference, I may have lost the only woman I will ever love.
NEW RELEASE
Download FREEBIE: The Good Girl Part One at www.readtracyreed.com
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