A Title a Month…Insane or Brilliant and BookBub Summary
March 7, 2016 by Tracy Reed in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed tagged as Steamy Christian Fiction, Tracy Reed
I’m doing something that can be considered brilliant or insane. I’m putting a title out a month. When I say it out loud and look at my schedule, my goal sounds like the words of a person who should be locked in a padded room.
Trust me I did think this through, sort of, before I set out to tackle this goal. I’ve heard writers say, they put out 6 titles a year, 12 titles a year 24 titles a year. This intrigued me. It also made me think I wasn’t living up to my writing potential. So I thought, why not give it a try. Let’s be real, it never occurred to me to try 24 titles, for me that really would be insane. A dozen however, seem a doable.
Follow my reasoning. I wanted to beef up my book offerings and push myself. The goal seems a little scary, but if it goes as planned, next year I can cut the goal in half. Or I might want to make this my new normal. Check with me at the end of the and we’ll see.
Like any well thought out plan, there are always a few challenges. But that which doesn’t break me, will only make me stronger and a better writer, I hope. In addition to the writing challenge, I’m experimenting with different forms of marketing. Over the past year, I learned that books are like children, each has it’s own personality and needs to be nurtured differently.
Here goes…
FIRST TITLE: January 2016 Title “WHAT MY FRIENDS DON’T KNOWâ€
Challenge One: I planned my January release two days before my vacation. That was insane. I was trying to pack and prep a book at the same time. I’ll never do that again. However, I got the ebook out on January 19th. To ensure I’d make the January date, I set up a pre-order date. That cause more stress than I imagined. Unfortunately, the print version wasn’t ready and it’s been pushed back to March. But I still made my January Title date.
Marketing Strategy: Blog tour, giveaways with GoodReads, TRS [The Romance Studio], Ads on Booktastik, Love Kissed Books and other blogs and Kitty and Elena’s Blab Podcast
Purchase Outlets: Amazon, iBooks, Draft 2 Digital, Smashwords, Kobo and Createspace, my website and OC Book Fair
Formats: eBook and Print
SECOND TITLE: February 2016 Title “LOVE NOTESâ€
Challenge Two: The challenge with my February release was a matter of setup. I wrote a book of love notes, thus the title, “LOVE NOTES.” So far, these thirty-one notes have been the most difficult thing I’ve written. Who would have thought it’s be that difficult to draft a few words of expression…that’s the sub title. Anyway, I didn’t realize that at some point, I accidentally released the book. I found this out when I went to release it on February 28th. However, it had been pulled because I made some changes to the interior file. So I thought I had made it available for release, when in fact it hadn’t been made “available.” A simple few clicks and it was made available as of February 29th. Weird thing though, it was it was published on January 12th. Go figure. In my mind, it’s birthday is February 29, 2016.
Marketing Strategy: Giveaways with GoodReads, TRS [The Romance Studio]. This one is going to be a real learning experience, because it’s print only. However, I’m going to sell it through my other business.
Purchase Outlets: Amazon, Createspace and The Pin kDuchess, my website and OC Book Fair
Formats: Print
THIRD TITLE: March 2016 Title “THE GOOD GIRL PART DEUX”
This brings us to Title No. 3, “THE GOOD GIRL PART DEUX”. I wrote this book in about a month. This is the second installment to “THE GOOD GIRL PART ONE”. It’s names Part Deux, because some of the story takes place in Paris. I fondly refer to Part One as my little book that could. This story was part of the “Fling” box set. I’ve talked about this story before. It took me about two weeks to write it. In mind it was going to be a stand alone novella. Instead, the end gave way to a second book. Now I’m wrestling with Part Trois.
Here’s a peak at the cover for THE GOOD GIRL PART DEUX
Marketing Strategy: I don’t know yet.
Purchase Outlets: I’m not sure, because Part One is in KDP Select. I’m not sure if I want to move the series or leave it there. I’ll have a solution by release day.
Formats: eBook and Print
So I invite you to take this journey with me. I’m not foolish enough to ask you to take this challenge with me, because that would be insane.
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I mentioned a few months back that I was blessed to receive the holy grail of ads, BOOKBUB.
A little history. My first book GENERATIONAL CURSE was sort of at a stand still in the digital world. Let me rephrase that, because it makes it sound dead. It wasn’t, it just wasn’t getting the attention I wanted. In retrospect, I can understand why that was a good thing.
Let me explain. I only had one book out. If it had hit record breaking numbers, I didn’t have anything else to offer readers. I searched ways to garner some attention. I did a few ads, a blog tour, posted it on various social media outlets, put it on sale for $.99, and saw a slight increase. When I released this book, I put it on Amazon, iBooks, Smashwords, All Romance eBooks, and Barnes and Noble. I saw very little love from everyone accept Amazon. Oh yeah and I did a giveaway at GoodReads with good results.
I can’t remember when, but Kathy Rowland approached me about being in the FLING BOX SET. I jumped at the opportunity. It was a chance to be in a box set and it provided me with a challenge…write a novella. I had never written a short book and it was something I wanted to try. My next full-length book wasn’t ready and I needed something new to offer the few readers I had. [Thank God for those early subscribers to my email list.]
So, as I mentioned in a previous post, I wrote THE GOOD GIRL Part One in about two weeks. I was torn about were to place this book. Due to the way FLING was set up, I had no choice, but to place it in KDP Select. I was surprised at how well this book was received. It was also a great attention getter. When people saw THE GOOD GIRL, they also saw GENERATIONAL CURSE. I saw a little movement, but THE GOOD GIRL, was doing much better.
I was talking to Kitty Bucholtz about my plight and she suggested I do something I felt was a little drastic…place it in KDP Select. This scared the crap out of me. I felt I would be losing out on potential sales. Who was I kidding, in the eyes of the other sights, I was dead. So I did it and was shocked it started selling much better. As a new writer, I have to remind myself, large sales take time. I also remind myself, my genre is still new or it hasn’t officially been categorized. So, now I refer to my books as Steamy Christian Fiction or Contemporary Fiction with Faith elements. [Personally, I like Steamy Christian Fiction. Kind of sounds taboo or something your grandmother would cringe if she read. SMILE.]
Now for the meat and potatoes. I wish I could say I discovered some secret formula for getting the ad, but I didn’t. All I did was pray. I don’t mean to come of preachy, but it’s the truth. That’s all I did and filled out the application of course. Like a lot of authors, I’ve been reject a few times from BookBub, so this was a shock and an amazing Christmas gift.
If you’re familiar with KDP Select, you know you have the option of offering you book for free for five days during your 90 days. To be honest, I almost forgot my 90 days were almost up. I quickly set out looking for ads. The other thing is it was around the holidays and let’s be real, no one is really buying books before Christmas. But I had put myself in that situation. I also had wanted to do some kind of giveaway to celebrate the one year anniversary of my first book, GENERATIONAL CURSE.
I booked a GoodReads Giveaway and contacted a couple of sites I had placed ads with and saw good results: Robin Reads and Booktastik. And because the sky is blue, I applied to BookBub.
I immediately heard from Booktastik. [I love working with them. They are very accommodating.] They pretty much asked me what day I wanted and we were set. However, Robin Reads wasn’t able to give me the date I wanted and offered me December 23rd. I felt that wasn’t going to benefit me, so I turned it down.
An advantage to my genre, is I can apply for a few different categories: Contemporary Romance, Women’s Fiction, Inspiration [which would be a stretch for some people] or African American.
I keep trying to figure out what I did and I remember the previous times I applied it was for Contemporary Fiction and at my book’s full price. This time, I bit the bullet and decided to offer it for free. I also changed the description and applied to the African American category. I know some people are probably saying I should have done that in the first place. My reasons for not applying to that category are more complicated than I care to go into.
I figured if I was going to give by book away, I wanted to spend as little as possible. The African American category was only $65 for a free download, with a reach of 320,000+, with a total average downloads of 3,950.
A few days after the December meeting, I got an email from BookBub. I was prepared for the news either way, but very hopeful, the result was in my favor. I opened the email and immediately started jumping up and down doing a Thank You God happy dance. I got the ad. I didn’t care what day they gave me, it was BookBub. The holy grail of ads. I knew no matter what, I was going to be expose to a lot of people that had probably never heard of me or my books. By the time the ad, hit, I had three titles. A novella, a novelette and my full-length. I had something to offer readers. My book was going to be featured on December 28, 2015. Cool thing about this date, it was my grandfather’s birthday. So if he had been alive we could have had a double celebration.
So how did I do? As far as I’m concerned, I did incredible. I’m only going to share the numbers for GENERATIONAL CURSE. Here we go:
DAY ONE OF FIVE FREE:
BookBub day, December 28, 2015:
Downloads: 4,944
KENP: 119
I found the KENP number interesting, because the book was a free download.
This wear the wings or tails begin
DAY ONE OF FIVE FREE:
December 29, 2015:
Downloads: 1,532
KENP: 619
DAY THREE OF FIVE FREE:
December 30, 2015:
Downloads: 937
KENP: 2,537
DAY FOUR OF FIVE FREE:
December 31, 2015:
Downloads: 629
KENP: 1,082
DAY FIVE OF FIVE FREE:
January 1, 2016:
Downloads: 692
KENP: 3,092
Total Downloads for the five days: 8,734
Total KENP Downloads: 7,449
BookBub suggests that you track your numbers for thirty days to see what the halo affect is. Interesting word, halo. Here it is in a nutshell, I love the halo effect. Not only did the halo sit high, it shined bright.
Halo Period
December 29, 2015 – January 28, 2016
Total KENP Downloads: 41,950
Copies: 6
Keep in mind I’m only talking about GENERATIONAL CURSE. During this time, I had two other books out and one on pre-order. All of which benefited greatly. For some people these are small numbers, but for my first time going out with BookBub, he was a true gentleman. Now I have a gage for the next time I get an ad.
Since the BookBub ad, I’ve seen steady numbers, so far nothing like what I experienced in the halo. Let me rephrase that, I’ve had a few of those four figure KENP days and sales are much better.
Sorry this post was a little long. Check in with me next month as I continue on my quest to do 12 Titles in 12 Months.
Tracy Reed
www.readtracyreed.com
Fiction for Women Who Love God, Couture and Cute Guys
Lion and Lamb
March 6, 2016 by Linda O. Johnston in category Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston tagged as #amwriting, Linda O. Johnston
by Linda O. Johnston
Compete with Yourself and Win by Kitty Bucholtz
February 10, 2016 by Kitty Bucholtz in category It's Worth It by Kitty Bucholtz tagged as Kitty Bucholtz, time management, writer's tips, Writing Goals
Everyone has a few personal tips and tricks to help them write more, and most people are willing to try something new to see if it helps. I’ve found a good number of people respond well to a healthy fun competition, but sometimes I start feeling bad if I compare myself to someone who always seems “ahead of me.”
Therefore, just in case it’s helpful to you, I wanted to let you know about a quick and easy writing competition you can have with yourself. (Compete with your friends if it doesn’t make anyone feel bad!)
Over ten years ago, I found this “Don’t Break the Chain Calendar” on the Writers Store website. In the description, it says that Jerry Seinfeld once said that he would write a big “X” on every day that he wrote new material…and so this calendar was eventually born.
It has 365 numbered squares on it so you can start any day of the year on square 1. The idea is to get the longest chain of X’s you can. I actually like to use gold stars that teachers put on school children’s homework. 😉 It’s fun to see the line of stars growing. Miss a day or three? Just go to the next appropriate square and start again. If you play the Settlers of Catan board game, it’s like getting the prize for building the longest road. Haha!
One of the nicest things about the Don’t Break the Chain Calendar is that Writers Store offers it as a free PDF download! (Check out the rest of the site – cool stuff!) You can also use a regular printed calendar, but you won’t be able to see as clearly how long your chain grows over time.
Cheap, easy, and motivational – just the kind of “write more” writer’s trick you needed, right? 🙂
Kitty Bucholtz decided to combine her undergraduate degree in business, her years of experience in accounting and finance, and her graduate degree in creative writing to become a writer-turned-independent-publisher. Her novels, Little Miss Lovesick, A Very Merry Superhero Wedding, and Unexpected Superhero are currently available on Amazon. The free short story “Superhero in Disguise” and the new short story “Welcome to Loon Lake” are available wherever ebooks are sold. You can find out about her courses on self-publishing, marketing, and time management for writers at her website Writer Entrepreneur Guides.
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FIVE TIPS THAT TO SHARPEN YOUR WRITING
February 8, 2016 by A Slice of Orange in category Guest Posts, Spotlight tagged as A Boss Inc Novel, Into the Fury, Kat Martin, writing tips
I never give writing tips. I figure everyone has his own personal style. Plus some people are just naturally good. But I do think there are a few things authors can do to sharpen their work. Here are some of the things I think about when I am writing a novel.
1. Start with a hook. Make your first sentence or at least your first paragraph compelling. Make the reader want to read the book! In INTO THE FURY, my newest Romantic Suspense, the first sentence reads,
SINNERS, SLUTS, and WHORES–BEWARE. Your TIME is at HAND. Standing next to the long mahogany table in the conference room, Ethan Brodie re-read the note he’d just been handed.
Everyone who sees this paragraph recognizes the threat in that note. Someone–probably a woman–could be in grave peril.
With any luck, this opening will intrigue the reader enough to keep reading.
2. Enter late and leave early. In the above example, we’re starting in the middle of the scene. We’re not in the conference room waiting for Ethan to show up. We aren’t there until after he receives the note. From there we start charging forward, finding out what’s going to happen next. Just remember the reader isn’t interested in “Hi, how are you?†“I’m fine, and you?â€
At the end of the scene, get out.
3. Make sure there’s conflict in every scene. This doesn’t necessarily mean violent conflict. It can be man against nature, man against man, man against himself, anything that makes the reader interested in continuing.
In my example, the conflict in the opening scene of INTO THE FURY is mostly Ethan’s battle with himself. He doesn’t want to take a job bodyguarding what he thinks will be a bunch of air-headed models. He’s had too much woman trouble lately, but it’s a good job that pays well. They need his skills and so he decides to take it.
4. Stay in the active voice whenever possible. Try not to use the word was too many times. Here’s an example. A rumble of thunder in the sullen gray sky blotted the reverend’s next words. I could have written, The sound of thunder could be heard in the distance. The sky was a sullen gray. That’s passive voice. It’s important to stay active.
Personally, I have to work at this. I often go back and change from passive to active after I write the first draft.
5. Write characters that grow and change. Writing a character arc, it’s called. It means your characters learn something or do something that changes them. During the time Ethan is working with the La Belle lingerie models, he learns how difficult their job is. He comes to admire their work ethic and their brains.
It changes some of his thinking about the female sex and helps him realize the kind of woman he really wants in his life.
There are lots of great tips to writing. The five above I learned from studying very successful authors. Dean Koontz has a wonderful book called Learning To Write, but its out of print and hard to find.
All the authors I’ve studied, all the books by other authors that I’ve enjoyed through the years, have helped me immeasurably. I hope these tips will help you, too.
Best of luck with your writing and all good wishes for a terrific 2016.
New York Times bestselling author Kat Martin is a graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara where she majored in Anthropology and also studied History. She is married to L.J. Martin, author of western, non-fiction, and suspense novels.
Her last 10 books have hit the prestigious New York Times bestseller list. AGAINST THE WILD, AGAINST THE SKY, and AGAINST THE TIDE her latest release, took top ten spots. Visti Kat at the following:
WEBSITE
I’m Late!
February 6, 2016 by Linda O. Johnston in category Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston tagged as cozy mysteries, Linda O. Johnston, Writing contestFeatured Books
DEEP INTO DUSK
In the second pulse-pounding thriller in the series, Detective Gabriel McRay is once again forced to face his inner demons
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TO CATCH A TREAT
When a Dog-Snatching Scheme Leads to Murder, Carrie Must Sniff Out the Truth.
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