Rambling About Marketing, Paying Back, and Meeting Expectations

I read a couple really interesting posts over at Mad Genius Club over the weekend - Bestsellers, and writing to market and Writer, Market, Reader.  They both go back to the marketing things I've been talking about off and on.  (Seriously, if you're not subscribed to this blog, you're missing stuff.)

Most of the people who stop here are writers.  (:waves at the readers: Hope I'm not boring you, dears.  I'll try to have something more reader-focused on Wednesday.)  And it's hard being a writer - especially an independent one - and I'm trying to help out my fellow inmates as much as I can.

Pay it forward, so to speak.  (Except I hate that movie so much, just using the phrase makes my skin crawl.)

Over the past 9 years, so many other authors have helped me in so many ways, I kinda want to give back and encourage others to do the same. 

Anyway, sales have been slow from what I've heard and seen.  Everyone hates marketing.  And I'm wondering who I have to kill to get an ad for Wish in One Hand at ENT.  (4 requests, 4 rejections - ugh)  It really got me down over the weekend.  Down to the point of being unable to work on In Deep Wish because all I could think of is 'why am I busting my ass when the first book in the series is tanking?' 

Eh, I got over it.  I think.  I have to do this because I have promised people it would be coming out in March.  Local people who could hunt me down and snip off things of tertiary importance to writing until I produced the book they want. And out there in the world people who could merely be disappointed and then not care when the book finally does come out. 

I'd rather not disappoint any of them.

So, I'll be editing like a madwoman.  And marketing - because as much as I'd like to follow through with my oft-uttered 'screw this shit', I cannot, in fact, screw that shit. 

First, though, errands!  I need smokes.  No smokey, no worky. 

Release Day!

Well, it finally happened.  BloodFlow is out in the world now.  And you can get a copy of your very own.  My copy hit my Kindle this morning.  (Yes, I buy a copy of my own books.)  So pretty.

If you've been following along all these years, you may remember this one as Nanotechnology.  I started it in 2007. Spent the next two years off and on writing a first draft.  Spent the next few years shoving it into a corner because I was afraid to edit it.  It was such a behemoth with so many plot twists and turns and I wanted it to be perfect but I wasn't sure how to make it so.

I finally knuckled down, deleted a bunch of stuff, made it tighter - better, stronger, faster - and sent it through the editing process.  My editor calls it a political thriller.  She's probably right.  After all, she knows it as well as I do, but from the outside, so she's more objective.  I like to think of it as Vince Flynn meets Michael Crichton meets Tess Gerritsen inside my head and we all have a party.  Woohoo.

So, without further ado, I give you BloodFlow:

Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon CA
Amazon AU
Createspace

If you're elsewhere in the world, it's available through whichever Amazon site you use.  Check there for price and availability.  If I read/wrote other languages, I'd be able to help you, but I'm English-only - as are my books.

Oh, and it's available for the Kindle Unlimited program.  If you're a subscriber, you get to read it without any additional cost to you.  Yay.

The Balance Between Intriguing and Annoying

I have a book release tomorrow.  I want to shout it from the rooftops, tweet about it every ten seconds, leave comments on other people's blogs with buy links, tell everyone I pass on the street...

Umm, yah. 

So, I'm sitting here this morning wondering where the fine line is between intriguing someone enough to get them to buy your book and annoying them so much they wouldn't read your book if it was free.

If I send a tweet out first thing in the morning, am I missing the opportunity to market to people who are only on Twitter at night or in the afternoon?  If I tweet all three of those times, am I annoying the person who saw it the first time? 

If I post about it on Facebook once a day, is that too much?  Too little? 

If I mention it on my own blog every time I post, am I driving people away?  If I don't, do you forget? Or does it seem like I don't care enough about my own book to pimp it?

If I mention it in the comments of someone else's blog, am I breaking some rule of internet etiquette?  Or is that just smart marketing?  (Without the buy link.  I would never be so forward.)

I know the regular people who stop here don't seem to mind, but you're my supporters.  (And supportive you are.  :hugs:)   Let's say it's not me.  Let's say it's someone you've never heard of.  When does marketing cross the fine line between intriguing you and annoying you? 

*Yeah, I worry too much.  What else am I supposed to do after I get into bed at night? Sleep??

News

Hey All!  Sorry the newsletter still hasn't gone out.  I'm working on it, but I'm up to my underoos in alligators and pretty much everything else is taking precedence.  I had been wondering when I would officially get too busy.  The answer is now.  And here's why...

BloodFlow releases on Tuesday for all intents and purposes.  I did go ahead and approve the paperback, so it's already available from Createspace.  If you pre-ordered on Amazon, the ebook will hit your Kindle on the 24th.  If not, you can order a copy on that day and it'll be there lickety-split.

The new cover for both the ebook and the print copy of Wish in One Hand are here and ready for purchase.  And I dropped the price of Wish in One Hand to 99 cents for the remainder of 2015. And through the power of Draft2Digital, I made Wish in One Hand available to Kobo, Apple, and B&N.  So, if you were hesitating because you don't do Kindle, you can now get a copy - and for just 99c.  Sometimes it pays to wait.

So, I've been trying to do marketing for both of those books.  Contacting various advertising venues, setting stuff up, etc.  Twitter tweets.  Facebook posts. 

AND updating the blogs to reflect the changes.

Plus, I'm finally getting back to work on editing/rewriting In Deep Wish. Which means typing and changing what needs to be changed.  This is due to the editor by the first week of December.  And I'm beginning to work with my cover artist to make that happen, too.

Dump in regularly scheduled work stuff. Add in life stuff.  Mix thoroughly.

Poof!

(that was the sound of my head imploding)

The newsletter will go out by Monday.  Promise. 

Basic Marketing for Writers 101

Okay, I know I'm probably not the best person in the world to hold a course like this, but I'm not the worst either, and let's face it, writers need help.  So, I'm going to go over some things we all should be doing to help increase sales.

1)  Have an online presence.  Yeah, if you're here, you probably already know this one.  If you can afford it, have a website with a dedicated URL that goes something like yourauthorname.com.  If not, get a free site without a dedicated URL or a blog or something where people can find you if they do a simple search.

2) Update your online presence as soon as you have any news to update it with.  New book release?  As soon as you have a cover, slap it up there with info on the particulars. As soon as you have buy links, get them on there, too. 

3) Create a social networking presence.  The more people see you out there, the more likely they are to be able to buy your books.  It doesn't have to be hard and it shouldn't be a major chore. I use Facebook and Twitter.  I'm already on FB all the time and I try to remember to get to Twitter a few times a day.  It helps that my FB page status updates feed my Twitter page.

4) Network.  And by network, I mean get your butt out there and talk to people.  NOT about your books - at least not at first.  Interact with them about stuff. Make friends by leaving comments and responding to comments. 'Like' posts and pages on FB.  And for godsakes, be REAL.  People can spot a fake coming from a mile off.  If you're real and friendly, the people who like you will tell other people about you and your books.

5) Goodreads.  If you aren't a member, get thee hence. As soon as you have a cover and a blurb and a tentative release date, get your book listed.  Even if it's months out.  Then when people hear about your book, they can go to Goodreads and put it on their Want to Read list, which will remind them when your book actually releases. 

6) Take advantage of your Amazon Author Pages.  Yes, pages plural.  US and UK - unless you can write in other languages, then do DE or IT or FR or JP or whatever other country.  I can't wait until Amazon let's me do a page in Canada and Australia. 

Yeah, all this in addition to making sure your book is edited into the best piece of reading material it can be, and in addition to having an awesome cover that will draw people to your work.  All this in addition to actually writing the books.  It's worth it.  Because it'll bring sales.  And I don't know about you, but no sales makes for an inability to create more books around here.  I talked on Monday about the money side of things, and my investment so far, but the financial well is not infinite and when it goes dry, there'd better be something flowing in from somewhere.

So, get out there and market.  And if you're already doing all of the above and still not seeing sales?  Well, I'll try to talk more about that in another post.  Meanwhile, hold tight, stay the course, and keep writing books that you can then put through the machine.  Sooner or later, the sales will come.  We would just all prefer sooner rather than later.  Right?

Any questions?  Suggestions?  Ideas? 

Crunching the Numbers at Year One

Looking back, I made my first payment for self-publishing expenses on 11/5/14, so I figured this was as good a place as any to do a number crunch.

With the last couple bills paid (Monday morning when the banks open, hopefully), I have spent just under $5000 this year bringing four books to market.  That's about $3K under what I thought I'd be spending, so I have that going for me.

It works out to roughly $1200 a book on average.  That's for editing, cover art, marketing, print copies, postage, etc.

To date, I have made just over $1300.  (Well, $1100.  Amazon pays 60 days out, so I haven't seen the money from Sept, Oct, Nov yet.)  More than I thought I would at the beginning of this journey, but less than I had hoped.  The CFO is pleased, which is a good thing.

I've sold 946 books.  That's about $1.40 a book.

Of those 946 books, here's how the sales break down:

Dying Embers - 496 (55 books a month avg)
Accidental Death - 414 (69 books a month avg)
Wish in One Hand - 31 (3 books a month avg)
BloodFlow - N/A

I'm blaming the disparity of book averages from the first two books and the third on the inability to secure a ENT ad.  I had huge sales jumps for DE and AD from their ads.  Needless to say, we're a little disappointed in WIOH's performance so far, but I've heard that with paranormal books, you don't really start seeing beaucoup sales until the third book is released.  Basically, we'll have to wait until late summer of next year to see if that's true.  (Second book due out Feb or March. Third book Aug or Sept.)

All in all, I'm pleased with the first year.  Not content, mind you, but pleased overall.  I've learned a little about what works and what doesn't.  I have my good days and my bad days.  Such is life.  I've felt the thrill of a good review and the butthurt of a bad review and the utter confusion of a bad 5-star review.  :eyeroll: :facepalm: :headdesk:

And I've enjoyed the smooshy hugs and support from my friends, family, and readers.  Thank you, all.

With each release, I hold my breath and hope this will be the one that takes off and takes the others along with it.  You'll see that BloodFlow is N/A up there.  That's because it just became available for pre-order and doesn't officially release until 11/24.  So, while the money to pay for it has gone out for the year in question, the money coming in will have to be tallied with next year's fundage.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Hope that helps you if you're thinking about jumping into self-publishing or that it was at least interesting if you're not.  If you're already in the thick of it, please don't take these numbers to mean anything compared to your numbers.  Each of us walks our own journey through the self-publishing jungle.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.  I'll answer what I can.

BloodFlow - the Blurb

Ir's coming down to the wire.  I'm reading through BloodFlow to make sure it's the best book it can be before I upload it for pre-order.  And everything else is falling to the wayside - pretty much.  I'm making food and doing dishes on a regular schedule.  And that's about it.

I haven't read a book that wasn't mine lately.  I haven't dusted or vacuumed.  There's clutter here and there.  Thank goodness I have an understanding Husband.  One who cleans the litterbox and does the laundry, so those two necessities are taken care of while I'm deep in the editing cave.

But enough about me.  Let's talk about BloodFlow...

Here's the Blurby McBlurberson (aka back cover copy):

Prove you’re an American! Join your elected officials and get implanted today!

The highest levels of the government believe Project Hermes is the best way to control America’s immigration problem. A simple microchip carrying a citizen’s information will allow officials to sort out who belongs—and who doesn’t.  Harmless.

Unless the chip carries more than just information.

Agent Miranda Kruz of the Terrorism Task Force has reason to believe something is very wrong with Project Hermes.  People are dying and the clues all point to a microchip implant. But Randi’s superiors don’t want anything or anyone interfering with their pet project. They’re threatening her job, her loved ones, and her life to keep her from revealing their secret. With the help of medical examiner, Vic Hammond, and electronics engineer, Jack Davis, Randi has to uncover the truth and make it public before anyone else is targeted for death.

Locating the madmen behind these executions will be hard enough—stopping them might just be impossible.

It's been a long haul with this book.  And this was the one that was a scary behemoth called Nanotechnology when I finished the first draft.  I snipped a lot of scenes that didn't contribute to the plot or didn't move the action forward.  Now it's weighing in at about 108K.  And it's BloodFlow. 

I hope I did the story justice. 

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do so you all will have something to read soon. =o)

(And there's a contest for a $10 Amazon gift card on Monday's post.  Go forth, do some sharing, and enter.)

Goodreads Listing and a Contest

It's the little things that kill.

The Goodreads listing for Bloodflow is now live.  Go forth, if you are so inclined, and Want to Read it.  Feel free to share it.  In fact, if you share the link to its Goodreads listing somewhere (your blog, your FB page, Twitter, etc.) and then come back here to put the link to your share in the comments, I'll enter you for a $10 Amazon giftcard drawing.  I'll pick the winner for this drawing on the day I announce the book is live at Amazon - at which time I will begin another drawing.  Cuz what the hell, right?

So, what do you think of the cover?  Does it say thriller with political, medical, and technological elements?  God, I hope so, because I'm running with that sucker.  How do you like the tagline - It's the little things that kill? 

In case you missed it, here's the blurb:

Prove you’re an American! Join your elected officials and get implanted today!
The highest levels of the government believe Project Hermes is the best way to control America’s immigration problem. A simple microchip carrying a citizen’s information will allow officials to sort out who belongs—and who doesn’t. Harmless.
Unless the chip carries more than just information.
Agent Miranda Kruz of the Terrorism Task Force has reason to believe something is very wrong with Project Hermes. People are dying and the clues all point to a microchip implant. But Randi’s superiors don’t want anything or anyone interfering with their pet project. They’re threatening her job, her loved ones, and her life to keep her from revealing their secret. With the help of medical examiner, Vic Hammond, and electronics engineer, Jack Davis, Randi has to uncover the truth and make it public before anyone else is targeted for death.
Locating the madmen behind these executions will be hard enough—stopping them might just be impossible.

I hope you all are as excited about this book as I am.  =o)

Egg-free Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Mocha Frosting

Not that I have anything against eggs, but here's a recipe I found hiding in my recipe binder, and it was super easy, so I made it.  I don't usually post recipes here, but what the heck, right?  Enjoy!

Egg-free Chocolate Cake

2 cups sugar

2 cups flour

½ t salt

2 t baking soda

½ c baker’s cocoa powder

2 c water

1 c vegetable oil

2 T white vinegar

2 t vanilla

Preheat oven to 350F. In a large bowl, sift together dry ingredients (including sugar) until well combined.  Add remaining wet ingredients.  Beat until smooth by hand.  Pour into ungreased 9x13” cake pan.  Bake for 40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Cool and frost with below recipe.

Chocolate Mocha Frosting

6 T margarine (melted)

¾ c baker’s cocoa powder

1/3 + 1/6 c milk

2 t vanilla

4 ¾ - 5 ½ c confectioner’s sugar

1-2 T cappuccino mix to taste

In a large bowl, beat together margarine and cocoa powder until combined. Add milk and vanilla.  Beat until smooth (or as smooth as you can get it.)  Add confectioner’s sugar one ½ cup at a time and beat until smooth before adding next ½ cup.  Continue to add in sugar until you reach the desired consistency.  At about halfway through the sugar, add in the cappuccino powder with the powdered sugar.  Start checking consistency at 4 ¾ cups. I reached my desired thickness at 5 ½ cups.  Too thin, add more sugar.  Too thick, splash in a little more milk. Spread on above cake as evenly as possible.  Will be a thick layer of frosting.

To achieve 1/6 cup, fill the third cup measure to about half.

Cover Reveal - Wish in One Hand (v 2)

Hey All.

My brain is pudding, so I'm not sure if I mentioned that I was having a new cover done for Wish in One Hand.  (Probably did, but pudding.)

Oh, my old cover was okay.  The artist gave me pretty-much what I asked for (kinda, sorta).  But what I had in mind didn't translate well and apparently, it wasn't blowing anyone's skirt up.  Too old-fashioned, perhaps?  Not in keeping with current-day readers expectations of what a paranormal cover should look like?  Probably.  I'm still hooked on the old fantasy covers of my youth.

Anyway, like I said, no one was getting their skirts blown up and sales are way off expectations, so I figured finding someone snazzy to do my covers couldn't hurt. Plus, I needed someone to do the rest of the series covers so they'd have some continuity. (And for price, she undercut the hell out of the other guy anyway.)  So, without further gum-flapping on my part, here's the new and improved cover of Wish in One Hand...

Sparkly!  Let's give a round of applause to my new cover artist extraordinaire: Jessica Allain.  She rocks.

The new and improved print cover is still in the works, but this one has been uploaded to Amazon.  Give it 12-24 hours and it'll show there, too.

Oh, and since I have a new cover, I changed the blurb.  

‘Be careful what you wish for’

In hindsight, Jo Mayweather should’ve taken those words seriously back in 1926. Of course, spoiled brat, flapper-girl that she was, Jo probably would’ve made the not-so-clever wish that turned her into a genie anyway.
Being endowed with phenomenal power may have its perks but, for the most part, life’s been a pain in her tiny hiney. After running into a ‘slash first, ask questions never’ genie, her problems only worsen. Some demented thing is making wishes that can’t be granted and djinn are dying. Now, instead of freeing her brethren from their bonds, Jo has a killer to neutralize.
If she’d kept her mouth shut ninety years ago, she wouldn’t be in this mess. But she’s got a job to do despite some reject from a bad B-movie trying to ruin everything she’s worked so hard for. Too bad this time doing her job might get her killed.
Or worse—enslaved again.

Here's hoping this sparkly new stuff attracts some readers.