Not going to let it get me down...
...I hired an editor. Well I emailed her my stuff. I'm cheap but I need to do this if I'm serious. My story is getting lost in the editing.
So with a heavy heart I continue. I finished episode 5 and I sent it to the editor. I don't really feel like writing now but I'm not giving up.
Monday, December 31, 2012
Got my first bad review :(
I can't say I'm happy. I'm having a bad night so I can't bounce back right now but I want to succeed. I just need to cool a bit.
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Episode 5 is chugging away!
I'm up to 11.5k words on Episode 5. I was listening to the Self Publishing Podcast and they suggest having groups of 3 so can bundle in 3's and then in 6's. They say do 9 but I"m not sure if I have 9 stories in this series...we'll see. I'm thinking episode 6 will be the end but never say never, eh? Saturday, December 22, 2012
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Free Promo Day
I did my free day on the Episodes 1-3 compilation and did a whole mess of promo and the numbers are so much better than anything before. So far, this is the best I've ever done!
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Episode 4...coming soon~
Monday, December 10, 2012
SOLD 3 BOOKS!
AHHHHH!
This is awesome. Total record. Sold 3 copies of Episode 1 today. So HAPPY!
and this is highest rank I've ever had. WOOHOO!
This is awesome. Total record. Sold 3 copies of Episode 1 today. So HAPPY!
and this is highest rank I've ever had. WOOHOO!
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Compilation Free Days
...will be 12/12-12/13
I hope by then I have episode 4 up and ready
This book will be marketed like crazy. I've never had such a headstart for a KDP promotion so let's see how it goes.
Submitted notices to:
22 websites and counting!
Trying a compilation
My episode 4 is coming along (I had a real long week. I could finish it up this weekend probably...I just need to buckle down!) and I wanted to have my Episodes 1-3 ready to go so I can have a funnel to episode 4.
Here's a preview of the compilation!
Here's a preview of the compilation!
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Fixing up the covers...insomnia edition!
Part of that same thread about my promo, someone said my cover could use work. Now, I said...I like my covers. BUT, they're not good for horror/thrillers. If I wrote the next "Catcher in the Rye" they'd be lovely but they give the wrong impression.
So, because I can't fall asleep, I made two covers for Episode 1 that are more thriller-y.
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Blurb Help!
I went out and asked for help with my blurb. Oh how everyone was so nice! Here's what I've got:
The Six
Six complete strangers from all walks of life are kidnapped, imprisoned together, and forced into horrible acts. Their unseen masters force The Six to choose: die, or complete an act that will bring chaos to the outside world, with each act building toward a horrifying master plan.
Episode One
Simon Archer, a shy cashier, is kidnapped and becomes one of The Six. Soon he is the first to be chosen for a special mission: Kidnap and murder a governor's daughter. If he refuses, fails, or tries to escape, Simon will die.
So much better!
The Six
Six complete strangers from all walks of life are kidnapped, imprisoned together, and forced into horrible acts. Their unseen masters force The Six to choose: die, or complete an act that will bring chaos to the outside world, with each act building toward a horrifying master plan.
Episode One
Simon Archer, a shy cashier, is kidnapped and becomes one of The Six. Soon he is the first to be chosen for a special mission: Kidnap and murder a governor's daughter. If he refuses, fails, or tries to escape, Simon will die.
So much better!
Promo Day Help
I think genre is our biggest challenge as indies.Great advice. So things I need to work on:
I can't tell what genre your book is. By the blurb, I guess it's either horror or suspense, maybe thriller? The cover looks literary, though.
When the promo blogs look at your book and consider it, they give it about a millisecond. If they don't instantly understand what the heck the book is, they move on to the next one. It's a "Blink" thing.
- Pick a genre: Right now it is a thriller/horror/suspense and I've listed it as such. But, that's not really a genre. That's like a smoothie of genres. I need to pick one.
- Fix my blurb: Blurbs are my low point. I have so much trouble coming up with one. I need help with this.
- Cover? (But I like my covers...not sure about that one.)
Episode 3 is on its way!
I sent all freaking weekend and Monday editing Episode 3 and now it's sent to Amazon to publish! Thanks for everyone's support!
COMING SOON!
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Free Promo Experiment
So for my 2nd day of free, I did a Friday...which may have not been the best day to put the book up. Anyway, this time around I promoted the heck out of it. It was submitted to all the websites and message boards, etc. and here are the results:
BEFORE THE 2ND PROMO DAY
AFTER
So as you can see, I only got 50 downloads the 2nd day as opposed to the unmarketed first day. This is surprising. It may just be that Friday is not a great day and Wednesday was better. Little disappointing but 112 is still great!Also, as you can see I got another sale so YAY!
BEFORE THE 2ND PROMO DAY
AFTER
So as you can see, I only got 50 downloads the 2nd day as opposed to the unmarketed first day. This is surprising. It may just be that Friday is not a great day and Wednesday was better. Little disappointing but 112 is still great!Also, as you can see I got another sale so YAY!
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Covers for Episode 3
Since Nanowrimo is over, it's time to calm the writing and start editing episode 3. Now I just need to pick a cover!
1
2
3
4 
6
Trailers
So I want to make another trailer later, but here's what I've got so far so y'all can get a sense of the tone :)
Thursday, November 29, 2012
November 28th
Not a huge writing day. I was real tired today and I just wasn't in the mode. I'm about 70% done with episode 4 and I wrote myself into a corner. My character is trapped in a lab and I'm not sure how to make her be evil like she's supposed to!
I wrote about 600 words and got a little momentum by changing characters. Hopefully tomorrow I'm more focused!
Business side, I did a free promotion for Episode 2 and my Driving in Reverse complete series. I wanted to see what happened if I did no marketing at all, and it wasn't too shabby. (Driving in Reverse was 2 days, The Six was 1 day)
I even got a borrow and a sale from all that, so that's awesome!
I'm doing a promotion for Episode 2 on Friday and I'm going to try promoting it a lot more and see what happens...see if I can beat 72! The goal's to beat 100 :)
I wrote about 600 words and got a little momentum by changing characters. Hopefully tomorrow I'm more focused!
Business side, I did a free promotion for Episode 2 and my Driving in Reverse complete series. I wanted to see what happened if I did no marketing at all, and it wasn't too shabby. (Driving in Reverse was 2 days, The Six was 1 day)
I'm doing a promotion for Episode 2 on Friday and I'm going to try promoting it a lot more and see what happens...see if I can beat 72! The goal's to beat 100 :)
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Expert Help: Danielle Kazemi
How do you market your book? Social media, paid ads, etc.?
I use Facebook - a lot. There are tons of groups on there
specifically for ebooks that people belong to. Most of the people who
run them are super nice and are always looking for something to tell
their fans. I tried once with paid ads but they weren't worth it for me.
Goodreads and other social media sites are also great for connecting
with readers. A good hint: don't go in like a salesman. Go in like a
friend. People are more inclined to read what you wrote after they get
to know you.
Best advice and this comes from other, better selling authors -
write a series and make the first one free. I did it and I went from
selling about 6 books a month to averaging over 400.
What marketing technique did you use that didn’t work?
What marketing technique did you use that didn’t work?
Paid ads would be one. Not looking at who visits a blog or website
would be another series crime I committed. Most blogs and groups at some
point show little icons about who follows it. If you're marketing
for YA like me, make sure there are more teenagers following than
adults.
How long did it take you to start making consistent sales?
How long did it take you to start making consistent sales?
Once
I made the first one free - overnight. But at that point, I had nine
out for the series to really take off. It took me a while to realize
that was the best thing I could do. People like getting things for free.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Covers pt. 2
I'm having a blast making these! Please vote on these two so I know which ones I should use for the series.
PS, you guys are amazing!!!!
November 26th
Monday, November 26, 2012
Covers!
I can't fall asleep!
So, I decided I wanted to mock up some covers. These are tremendously rough, just to get the idea. I'd love to hear any of your thoughts! (I'll probably be making more tomorrow but I was proud of these ones...I wanted to share 'em!)
(Little background...this book is a thriller/horror/suspense if that helps!). Also, I will be adding the episode # to these covers like in #1 but I just didn't feel like doing that on all of them since it wouldn't be as much of a design element.
Please vote in the polls! It's mean so much to me!
So, I decided I wanted to mock up some covers. These are tremendously rough, just to get the idea. I'd love to hear any of your thoughts! (I'll probably be making more tomorrow but I was proud of these ones...I wanted to share 'em!)
(Little background...this book is a thriller/horror/suspense if that helps!). Also, I will be adding the episode # to these covers like in #1 but I just didn't feel like doing that on all of them since it wouldn't be as much of a design element.
Cover 1
Cover 2
Cover 3
Cover 4
Cover 5
Please vote in the polls! It's mean so much to me!
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Steps
Been brain-storming on some short-term goals for the book. They seem to be:
Get more reviews on all books. I currently have 1...but it's 5 stars bless that reviewer's heart. I need to put myself out there and ask for reviews.
Have 4 episodes in the bank. I have 2 published and a 3rd one is done but not edited. As a part of Nanowrimo, I'm doing as many episodes as November takes me so I'm about 25% done with episode 4.
Promote the book better than I am now, which is half-heartedly doing it on Twitter.
New cover. The cover is fun but it's not very exciting. I could definitely fix that up.
Better blog presence. I'm making it happen. I have my music blog but that really isn't super relevant so I'm going to blog here, too.
Get more reviews on all books. I currently have 1...but it's 5 stars bless that reviewer's heart. I need to put myself out there and ask for reviews.
Have 4 episodes in the bank. I have 2 published and a 3rd one is done but not edited. As a part of Nanowrimo, I'm doing as many episodes as November takes me so I'm about 25% done with episode 4.
Promote the book better than I am now, which is half-heartedly doing it on Twitter.
New cover. The cover is fun but it's not very exciting. I could definitely fix that up.
Better blog presence. I'm making it happen. I have my music blog but that really isn't super relevant so I'm going to blog here, too.
Saturday, November 24, 2012
November 24-- DAY ONE!
I watched the "Failure Club" on Yahoo! and I was inspired. The whole year these people had these goals that stretched them to work past their breaking point and put themselves out there. One wanted to ride a horse, another do stand-up comedy, etc.
The one that inspired me the most was Elizabeth Chan who wanted to have a top Christmas song on iTunes. She was a musician already and had experience in the field but she wanted to really focus and make this impossible dream happen. Her journey was rough and filled with self doubt but she buckled down about halfway through and got creative with how she would make it happen. And, in the end, she got a top ten song. I was so proud of what she'd done.
It got me thinking, what is it that I want to do that seems impossible. I love to write and I've been doing it since elementary school. Lately I've been writing actually stories and publishing them on Amazon but I'm putting so little effort into them that it's a miracle that I've sold the few that I have. I put hours and hours into writing them and I let them sit there without trying to get people to read them. It's like I'm embarrassed for someone to read them, which I'm not...at least I hope that I'm not.
My failure club goal is to get a #1 book on the Amazon Kindle charts. I'm not sure exactly how many copies that means, but it's not nothing. Definitely more than the 0 I've sold in November and the 1 I sold in October.
Right now I have a series I'm working on called "The Six". I think it has a universal appeal and it could be very popular but I haven't sold a single one.
By November 24, 2013, I will have a #1 book on Amazon.
Follow my journey!
The one that inspired me the most was Elizabeth Chan who wanted to have a top Christmas song on iTunes. She was a musician already and had experience in the field but she wanted to really focus and make this impossible dream happen. Her journey was rough and filled with self doubt but she buckled down about halfway through and got creative with how she would make it happen. And, in the end, she got a top ten song. I was so proud of what she'd done.
It got me thinking, what is it that I want to do that seems impossible. I love to write and I've been doing it since elementary school. Lately I've been writing actually stories and publishing them on Amazon but I'm putting so little effort into them that it's a miracle that I've sold the few that I have. I put hours and hours into writing them and I let them sit there without trying to get people to read them. It's like I'm embarrassed for someone to read them, which I'm not...at least I hope that I'm not.
My failure club goal is to get a #1 book on the Amazon Kindle charts. I'm not sure exactly how many copies that means, but it's not nothing. Definitely more than the 0 I've sold in November and the 1 I sold in October.
Right now I have a series I'm working on called "The Six". I think it has a universal appeal and it could be very popular but I haven't sold a single one.
By November 24, 2013, I will have a #1 book on Amazon.
Follow my journey!
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