Selling my soul might actually be easier.
I have been doing a TON of reading, research and “gathering of best practices” lately, including poring through blogs and absorbing hours upon hours of podcasts. Of particular help are Joanna Penn’s podcast (The Creative Penn) and the Sell More Books Show. I’ve also listed to quite a few Author Hangout episodes and Rocking Self-Publishing. The prevailing wisdom is to start marketing your books (or at least your “brand”) long before their release, so in a sense, my marketing efforts should always be “on.”
What I haven’t been doing a lot of is writing. But there’s a good reason–after hearing Shawn Coyne interviewed by Joanna Penn, I picked up his book The Story Grid and thought I might be able to figure out where the missteps are in my WIP. It has changed my thinking–it’s really inspired me to go back and re-map out the entire novel (word-count-wise, I’m about 2/3 through, but in reality, I’d say only about 50%). Yes, it’s more work, but I will feel so much more confident when it’s done. I’m out outliner anyway, so I always like to know “where I’m going,” even if my characters pull me off that path now and again. Read More…
When everyone is super, no one will be.
I listen to Joanna Penn’s podcast regularly. She’s a certifiable success and role model when it comes to indie publishing and attracts high-level talent for her interviews. I’ve broadened my network and likely improved my craft just in the short time since I discovered her.
In one of her recent episodes, she interviewed the designer of her fiction book covers, Derek Murphy. By all accounts, Derek seems like a very nice guy and is indisputably talented. He’s designed hundreds (thousands?) of covers in the past few years and has no doubt enhanced the appeal of books that might have otherwise gone unnoticed. Read More…
Mixed–but better–results with second KDP giveaway.
My second Amazon KDP Select giveaway of Battle Axe is winding down after three consecutive days, and I must say, it’s changing my mind about the program. I still don’t know if it will boost my reviews or sales, but the activity has blown away that of my previous giveaway over Easter weekend.Here’s what I did differently:1. Three consecutive days vs. two non-consecutive days (last time I skipped Easter proper).2. Used only these paid sources: Freebooksy.com Thedesertgirl on Fiverr.com bookblast.co Here’s what I did the same: 1. Picked a holiday weekend 2. All the same Facebook and Twitter sources But this time, as of 4:30 on the third day of the promotion, I’m looking at 5700 downloads vs. the meager 710 Read More…
Choose Your Friends Carefully
What I mean by that is, if at all possible, during your formative years, become friends with someone who, a few decades later will offer to design your ebook cover as a personal favor. Make sure this person is someone who displays very little aptitude or passion for graphic design at the time, but through hard work and dedication miraculously transforms into a visionary artist and Photoshopper par excellence. Well, that’s what I did, anyway, and look what it got me. I’m posting a larger cover of my debut novel Ring of Fire here, mainly to give it a place to live so I can send out links. My designer–the multi-talented Mike Sottong–worked with my crude notions of a concept Read More…
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