MY NEW TEAMMATE, VELLUM.PUB
June 5, 2016 by Tracy Reed in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed tagged as 12 Titles in 12 months, Tracy Reed, vwellum.pub
I was searching for a subject to post about this month and sort of drew a blank. In my last post, I gave you an update of my 12 Titles in 12 Months project. I no longer refer to it a challenge, because it’s a fun project.
In the past five months of this project, I’ve learned I can make deadlines and stick to them a lot better than in the past. I’ll be honest, there were a couple of times I didn’t think I was going to make my deadline.
Here’s my process and why using Vellum is good for me. When I complete a book, I do a read through and then pass it on to my number one Critic, my mom. Once she’s done, I make the corrections and then forward the book to my Beta Readers. When they’re done, I review their comments and make the necessary corrections. Then forward the book to my Editor. Depending on how long the book is, it could take her a couple of weeks to edit it. Then I review her edits, do another review and prep the file for the formatter. Depending on how long my book it, this step can take me a while.
Once I’ve done my reviews, it’s on to the formatter. Again, depending on the length and her schedule, this can take as much as five days. Then I review the file and if there are typos or glitches, I carefully log them and send the file back to her. There have been times I’ve over thought things, or missed something as simple as a line I forgot to move up. That simple error means I have to send the file back to the formatter. She’s really good about turning around the file for something so small quickly. All of these steps eats away at my time.
Now that I’ve added VELLUM.PUB to my team, I’ve also bought myself some time and breathing room. I don’t feel as pressured. I think some of the typos or glitches were a result of trying to make those deadlines and scared to have to go back and make changes. I am in love with this software.
As an indie or self-pub author, I’m always looking for ways to save time and money. I was introduced to Vellum.pub, by my friend Kitty Bucholtz. When I took it for a test drive, I couldn’t believe how easy it was. In less than an hour, I had a fully formatted book. That hour includes set up and launching to the various outlets. It happened so quickly, that I thought I had missed or forgotten something.
After playing with it a week, I finally released my first Vellum.pub formatted book. My new release, INTENTIONAL CURSE. Once I reviewed the Kindle file, I was very impressed. It looked just like what my formatter was doing for me. Now, this doesn’t mean I won’t every use a formatter again, it just means I have another option.
My formatter is amazing and very patient with me. However, because I use a MAC and she uses a PC, there would be slight challenges when it came to fixing typos or glitches on my part. I always felt bad having to go back and tie up her time for small typos [a letter or period in the wrong place.] For ease, I would give her a detailed list of typos and their location so she could find them quickly.
My formatter is cool about making the corrections and turning the file around quickly. I don’t know about anyone else, but even now when I go back and read some of my earlier releases, I’ve stumbled across an errant typo. I have a couple of books I found typos in that I have to send back to her for changes.
However, with Vellum.pub, there’s no charge to go back and make a change or correct a typo.
Another added advantage to using Vellum.pub, I’m able to add fancy chapter headings, first paragraph design, section breaks and one of my favorites, images. In INTENTIONAL CURSE, I included the covers of the books I excerpted. Vellum.pub, also allows you to add purchase links for each format or outlet you use.
So far, there’s nothing about this software I don’t like. It’s easy and painless to use. With my formatter, I get one free set of corrections and I’m charged for any additional corrections. The cost is also amazing and is based on title, not word count or outlets. One title, is $29.99, Ten titles, $99.99 and unlimited is $199.99. To be on the safe side, I bought the ten titles to start.
I also, found their response to customer service emails to be fairy quick. One of my concerns or questions, was if I liked it could I upgrade. I was told that I could. Another plus. [I will be going back and upgrading to the unlimited plan.]
This tool is perfect for me, because I like knowing I can go back at anytime and make changes without an additional cost. It also gives me an extra week in prep time. In the past, I would book my editor at least a month before sending the file to the formatter. And book the formatter, about two to three weeks before release day. Once the formatter completed my files, I took a week to ten days, to review the file and make any corrections. Then if it was clean, I set it up for release. Now, I’m able to breathe a little before formatting. I don’t feel as stressed as in the past.
I formatted my recent release, the night before and then I reviewed it the following morning. This delay was because I was sleepy, otherwise, I may have released it immediately. For the record, instant release is an option now, because if needed, I can go back, make the necessary changes and get the revised file up immediately.
If you haven’t tried VELLUM.pub, I recommend you give it a try.
12 TITLES IN 12 MONTHS…update
Okay, so I didn’t think I was going to do an update on my project. Last month I didn’t include a cover tease for the August release, because I wasn’t sure about the cover. Up until a couple of days ago, I was going to change the cover. But something amazing happened, I finished the title. YEAH!!! And when I played around with the cover, the proposed new cover one, became the cover for part two in the series.
I was a little nervous about this title because it seemed like I had gotten stuck. When I started writing this, I new it was going to be either a novelette, less than 20,000 words. But around 14,000 words, while I was praying one morning, I got a revelation that I should switch from first person to third person POV. I wrestled with this for a couple of days. Finally, last Thursday, while sitting in the salon, I started re-writing my book. By late Friday night, I had re-written the 14,000 words. In fact, by the time, I finished re-working the original pages, I ended up with an additional 1,000 words and renewed excitement about the story.
I’m so excited because, a week later, I finished the novella. And when I did, it left the door open for a novella series and a new set of characters for me to love. YEAH!!!
I’ll check in with you next month.
Tracy
Tracy Reed
www.readtracyreed.com
Fiction for Women Who Love God, Couture and Cute Guys
12 Titles in 12 Months [Pt Three]
May 5, 2016 by Tracy Reed in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed tagged as 12 Titles in 12 months, Edgy Christian Fiction, Tracy ReedHappy Cinco de Mayo!
It’s time for an update on my exciting challenge, 12 TITLES IN 12 MONTHS. When I started this challenge I know it seemed like the rantings of a crazed New Indie Self-Pub Writer. Wow, that’s a mouthful.
I’m having a lot of fun on this journey experimenting with new genres and formats. When I started this, I was going to primarily do a mix of full-length and novellas. But I have to admit, in a brief moment, I sort of thought I was taking on too much. Then I read the article in the RWA magazine about story lengths. Honestly, it never occurred to me to do a short story. Funny thing, my first two published pieces were short stories. In my mind, I thought I would be doing my challenge an injustice if I didn’t commit to either a full-length or novella. So, I did a little digging in my files and found several starter pieces. I printed them and did a lot of reading.
I woke up one morning and remembered I had rewritten my next full-length book. Thank God, I kept the old manuscript. I had this really cool scene, that I thought would make a great novelette. I read the chapters and discovered, they weren’t right as a novelette, but will be great for the third installment of THE GOOD GIRL…which is on the schedule for next year. I was a little bummed and then went into a blank mode. This freaked me out. It seemed like the words were gone. I won’t say it was Writer’s Block, but more like Brain Jumble. Words were there but when I started to write, it seemed force. I had almost two thousand words on a piece, but it just didn’t click. But while I was writing, I got an idea, which I turned into THE FLING. As for the other starter pieces, I like them, but I’m not quite sure the time is right to bring those stories to life. The good thing about this challenge is that I can basically write whatever I want. YEAH!
I finished out the first quarter with some pretty good sales. Here’s a funny sales story. My mother and I were at the doctor’s office waiting to get our annual blood workup. I was teasing her about something while she was proofing one of my books. I kept bothering her and she replied, “How am I supposed to finish your book, if you keep bothering me?†A woman sitting across from us heard my mother’s comment and started laughing. Then my mother went into sales mode and told her that I was a writer. The woman asked where she could find my books. I opened my iPad and showed her my Amazon page. She called it up on her phone, read the summary and bought the book.
Last week, I released my April Title, THE FIX UP. This cute short is my first RomCom. Thank you to everyone that posted the link on their social media.
For this title, I didn’t do any advertising or paid promoting. As I mentioned in a previous post, I’m trying different promotion options. For THE FIX UP, I sent an email to my mailing list, posted it on my blog, Facebook, Tumblr and Pinterest. I wanted to give my followers first dibs. This little tactic paid off on the release day. This was the first time I landed in the top 100 in one of my Amazon categories on release day. Double YEAH!! I was shocked. THE FIX UP, also aided my other books. My perma free book, THE ALEX CHRONICLES: GIRLFRIENDS & SECRETS, hit the top 100 in two categories. All this activity without me doing any paid promotions.
So what’s on tap for the next quarter? I have a full-length and what I think will be a couple of novelettes. The reason I say could be, is because I haven’t finished writing them. I already created the covers which I’ll share later in the post. but I’m not quite sure if I’ll keep the titles. Title duplication is something that really can’t be helped. But I was a little shaken when I saw a book on several sites this week with the same title as my proposed August release. Now I’m wondering if I should keep it, or rename it. If you have any thoughts on this, please post them below or send them to me…readtracyreed [at] me [dot] com.
On with the 3rd Quarter update…
Title: WHAT MY FRIENDS NEED TO KNOW
Length: Full-length
Status: Completed
Release Date: July
This is the second installment in The Alex Chronicles Series. It’s also the second book I wrote. But like it’s predecessor, I held it back and I am so glad I did. The characters are more mature and the issues they deal with seem a little more realistic. This story focuses on what happened after Alex said yes to Moses’ proposal. It’s no secret they got engaged. What is a secret is if they get married. Following the rest of the girls in this series is fun as well. There’s the return of someone’s first love, a surprise break up and a so much more.
Sales Outlets: eBook – KDP Select
Print – Amazon, Createspace, B&N and my website
Marketing Campaign: Posting on my blog and social media outlets [Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest], blast to my mailing list, GoodReads Giveaway and possibly a mini blog tour or Cover Release Blast tour. And miscellaneous blogs.
Title: MISS MATCH
Length: Novella or Novelette
Status: Still writing
Release Date: August
The reason you don’t see a cover image, is because there’s a slight possibility I might change the cover. I don’t purchase images until I’m convinced I want the image. With this story having a common title, I’m a little on the fence. Even though I like it a lot. As you may have guessed, this story is about a matchmaker. She’s polished, beautiful, and very good at what she does. But her evenings are spent alone. I see this possibly becoming a cute series.
Sales Outlets: eBook – KDP Select
Print – Amazon, Createspace, B&N and my website
Marketing Campaign: Posting on my blog and social media outlets [Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest], blast to my mailing list, GoodReads Giveaway and possibly a Cover Release Blast tour. And miscellaneous blogs.
Title: MY FIRST HUSBAND
Length: Novella or Novelette
Status: Still Writing
Release Date: September
This will probably finish out as a novelette length. It started out as the beginning of a series, but I have since changed my mind. I don’t think the characters are ready for a series or more than a few thousand words. Only time will tell. Hey, I didn’t think THE GOOD GIRL would go beyond book one. This is a complicated love hate story.
Sales Outlets: eBook – KDP Select
Print – Amazon, Createspace, B&N and my website
Marketing Campaign: Posting on my blog and social media outlets [Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest], blast to my mailing list, GoodReads Giveaway and possibly a Cover Release Blast tour. And miscellaneous blogs.
Writing update. Technically, I have every month completed or partially finished. I have something special for my December release. I was going to do a novelette, but I saw something that really intrigued me. A Sampler. I saw Beth Yarnell’s romance sampler and asked her if she minded me copying her idea. She was cool with it, because she’d gotten it from someone else. I thought about releasing the sampler this summer, but decided against it. Part of this challenge has been to experiment with writing and marketing/promotion styles. Seeing I have nothing lined up for the holiday, I thought that would be the best to release my sampler in the fourth quarter. I’m going to make it a free download, just in time for all those new to the world of eReaders. I’ll share more on this title later in the year.
God has answered my prayer and those three titles I was concerned about, are coming to life. In addition to my 12 Titles challenge, I’m almost done with my first non-fiction book. Let me just say this, I commend anyone writing non-fiction. I had no idea how difficult it would be. I thought since I write fiction, it would be easy. No. Non-fiction requires a lot of person reflection and sharing. At least for the book I’m working on. Because this book is part of a larger project, I’ve elected not to release it until January.
Why the rush to finish everything a head of schedule? I would like to take a little time off and relax. But we’re writers. Do we ever really stop writing?
Have a good month and I’ll check in with you next month.
Tracy
Tracy Reed
www.readtracyreed.com
Fiction for Women Who Love God, Couture and Cute Guys=
0 0 Read more12 Titles in 12 Months [Part Two]
April 5, 2016 by Tracy Reed in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed tagged as Edgy Christian Fiction, Tracy Reed
First of all, Happy Birthday to me.
It’s time for an update into my fun challenge, 12 TITLES IN 12 MONTHS. I think now that I am entering the second quarter of this challenge, people don’t think I’m insane or nuts after all.
[Writer Tip: Never discard good chapters that don’t work. Just because they don’t work with that book, doesn’t mean they are good. (Thanks Kitty Bucholtz for the ides.) Keep them and use them, re-work them and use as a short story, novelette or novella. Make them perma free. This way you’ll always have a freebie you can use to gain readers. That’s what I did with the discarded chapters from “What My Friends Don’t Know.†Those six chapters became a free prequel.]
I went to work on those drafts, but nothing worked. I thought if I re-read them, they would get my juices flowing. Nothing. Then I got a revelation. I had rewritten book two in The Alex series and remembered there was this great part I omitted because it was too long. I went digging through my old drafts and found it, but it didn’t work as a stand alone story, not like the chapters from book one. However, when I read them, they gave birth to an idea. Around the same time, I had this great two lines replaying in my mind, but when I tried to turn them into a story, nothing clicked. Let me take that back. I wrote about eight hundred words and trashed them. It was too difficult and felt forced. But when I took those two lines and mixed them with my other idea, it clicked. YES! I had my story.
When I started this challenge, I had it in my mind to do three full-length novels, one poetry book, about six novellas, a boxset and one short story. I had been asked to contribute a short story to a boxset, but I had to back out. If things had worked out, that would have been my one short story. Now I was short a title.
I revisited my production schedule and without thinking added another novella. I think at that moment my writer conscious went into shock. I did little research on story lengths. Let me clarify something. I like seeing my work in print. I knew from having done a few things with Createspace, there’s a page minimum for a print project. So I discovered that if I got creative with my formatting, I could have a nice little print book. Voila! I went back to my production schedule and changed some of those novellas to short stories. But a really cool thing happened, as I started writing, they words flowed and my cute little short stories turned into novelettes. YEAH! So now, my production schedule doesn’t look as daunting. It’s a nice mix of novelettes, novellas and full-length novels. So far, I haven’t written a short story per se, but I still have three titles that have yet to be born.
A cool thing about this challenge is that I get to experiment with genres. I have always wanted to try writing a RomCom [Romantic Comedy] or something with a little snarky humor. I got a little nervous about my RomCom, when I had my mother read it and a few pages in she said, “I don’t get it.†I was offended, because I thought it was funny. I immediately took it as criticism instead of what it really was, the truth. So I went back to the drawing board and rewrote the beginning. I have to admit I like it better. Is it funny? I think it is, but only time and readers with verify that fact. Hey, worse case scenario, it’s not funny and I learn from my mistake. Best case scenario, it turns out to be funny and possibly the beginning of a new series. I hope it’s well received because I have an idea about what happened next.
Here’s a sneak at the second quarter releases:
Title: INTENTIONAL CURSE
Length: Novella
Status: Completed
Release Date: April or May
I haven’t decided if I’m going to release this one in April or May. This novella is in response to requests from readers wanting know what happened to Kyla’s lover Eric. Instead of telling the story of what happened to him, I thought it would be more interesting to tell you how he met his wife and his mistress.
Sales Outlets: eBook – KDP Select *
Print – Amazon, Createspace, B&N and my website
Marketing Campaign: Posting on my blog and social media outlets [Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest], blast to my mailing list, GoodReads Giveaway and a possibly a Cover Release Blast tour. And miscellaneous blogs.
Title: THE FIX UP
Length: Novelette
Status: Completed
Release Date: April or May
I haven’t decided if I’m going to release this one in April or May. This little story happened during my writing block. It’s also my first attempt at a RomCom [Romantic Comedy]. I like the characters and hope this does well, because I see a second and possibly third tome with this group…especially the Nana character.
Sales Outlets: eBook – KDP Select *
Print – Amazon, Createspace, B&N and my website
Marketing Campaign: Posting on my blog and social media outlets [Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest], blast to my mailing list, GoodReads Giveaway and a possibly a Cover Release Blast tour. And miscellaneous blogs.
Title: THE FLING
Length: Novelette
Status: Almost Complete
Release Date: June or July I haven’t decided if I’m going to release this one in June or July. Because the second book in The Alex Series has a wedding and June is a big wedding season. It might be best to market based around that season. This story is the result of two ideas. The deleted pages from The Alex Chronicles Book Two and those two lines I mentioned earlier. I really should have titled it “The Rollercoaster.†This story is started out one way and then made a dip and then did a wrap around. Because I’m a Pantser, I not quite sure where it’s going to end. I hope it ends where I want it to. If it doesn’t, then I’ll take that ending and use it for another story. However, I’m not sure about the title.
Sales Outlets: eBook – KDP Select *
Print – Amazon, Createspace, B&N and my website
Marketing Campaign: Posting on my blog and social media outlets [Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest], blast to my mailing list, GoodReads Giveaway and a possibly a Cover Release Blast tour. And miscellaneous blogs.
On a side note, I love my covers. I’ve been taking a marketing course for my other business and keeping the word “Branding†at the forefront of my creative mind. Which can be both a blessing and a challenge. Because I want to be known as a writer of Steamy Christian Fiction, it means I have to always be cognizant of my brand or style. I want to push the envelope while not crossing the line. For me, that means every project I do has to fall in line with the look I’ve established.
I’m sure you noticed the asterisk [*] next to Sales Outlets. Let me explain. This is a huge undertaking. With that said, I didn’t plan the marketing, in detail. I planned the concept, but forgot to plan the marketing. Originally, I was going to make all of the titles available in every outlet. Problem with that is also what led me to do this, no one knew me and I have a small readership. When I started this, I had about 114 people on my reader list. So there really wasn’t a need to do a pre-order. Although I did offer pre-order with my January release. I got less than 10. Hey, it’s better than nothing. From that I learned, it was best to wait until I had a better readership before offering another pre-order.
But I did test out something I had been hearing. It’s sort of like that line from Field of Dreams, “If you build it, they’ll come.†[Writer Tip: If you write it, they’ll buy it…hopefully.] I had been reading on a lot blogs and podcasts that even if you do minimal marketing, and have a nice sized inventory, not only is it possible for you to make some sales, it could also produce sales with your other books. [The other reason or main reason I’m doing this challenge, I wanted to build up my inventory. More inventory equals more sales.]
Last week, I released The Good Girl Part Deux. I was in a hurry to get the book up by the end of the month and forgot to book an ad. However, I had just participated in the Romance Readers SPRING FLING Massive Ebook Giveaway. This event generated a lot of free downloads of my perma free book, The Alex Chronicles: Girlfriends & Secrets sending me to the #2 spot in one of my categories. It also produced a huge boost to my mailing list. So once The Good Girl Part Deux, was live, I sent an email to everyone on my mailing list thanking them for taking this writing journey with me. [Thanks for the email idea DeAnna Cameron]. Then I sent another email to my email list as well as a post to my blog list, offering them first dibs at The Good Girl Part Deux. Not only did those two things produced decent first day sales for GGPart Deux, it also produced sales for my other ebooks.
So for the duration of this project, I’ve elected to put all the titles in KDP Select. Towards the end of the year, I’ll figure out a more detailed marketing strategy for the following year. Unless of course, this one proves to be the best route for me.
As for how the writing is going? I am three titles away from having every month covered. Praise God!!! Every morning in my prayer time, I thank God for the words, because I really haven’t got a clue what those last three stories are going to be.
I’ll check in with you next month with my progress.
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.
____________________________________________________________
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
REMEMBERING YOUR FIRST BORN
February 5, 2016 by Tracy Reed in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed tagged as Edgy Christian Fiction, Tracy ReedI’ve been so exhausted, that I haven’t had the energy to write. Thank God for mothers. My mother sent me an email she received and it’s adorable. It made me wish I had done something similar.
Who remembers the day they received their first book proof? More specifically, who remembers the emotions they experienced the day they received their first book proof? I remember sort of camping out at home waiting on a call from the UPS Store, saying the package had arrived.
The day my life changed, my mom and dad were out running errands when I got the call, saying package had arrived. I called my mom and asked her to pick up the package for me.
When she got home and handed me the package, it was like Christmas and my birthday at the same time. Then I opened it and I was instantly deflated because the cover was horrible. My disappointment was short lived and quickly replaced with excitement, because it was my baby…my first book. The tangible proof that I was an author.
This post by NICKI KOZIARZ, resonated with me, because it was a reminded me of everything I experienced when I received my first book proof. I hope this story brings back or reminds you how it felt the first time you saw your hard work come to life.
Here’s the link. Nicki Koziarz [It’s a sweet story.]
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