Category: Writing

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Hello and Thank you for stopping by!

I felt like I should post something since it’s been forever.

We are less than a week away from BOOK BONANZA 18!!! I am beyond excited.

Per usual, the universe likes to knock me back a step or two.

universe

The last time this happened, I was riding a high after a writing conference when 4 agents asked to review Thizz. The next day I hit a light pole in the rain and it fell on my car and nearly crushed me to death.

It was probably just my really bad driving skills but it felt like more. Like the universe saying, “Wait a minute, bitch. This isn’t your time.”  So, I didn’t send a single agent an email. Stupid. So stupid. I know. Then a year and a half later I happened to be in the right group at the right time. Murphy Rae was starting Indie Solutions and I did email her. Which set me on the path to self-publish.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I really wish I was traditionally published and I have been working on a book that I plan to query (again, someday, soon). Right now, I need to focus on other projects like:

The Lunam Legacy, book 3 in the Lunam Series

Lunam3_Nook_Kobo

and Side Game, book 2 in the Men of Trance Series

Side-Game_Cover_edited

WRITING IS HARD

You know how sometimes its really hard to sit down and write a review? Imagine writing a two hundred page review, with proper punctuation and no gifs.

writing is hard.gif

Plus, my family is so over pizza. I’m going to try meal prepping while I finish these two books. The less time I spend in the kitchen, the more time I have to write. Or pretend to write while sitting at my desk eating cheddar-jack cheese its. It’s a process. Cheese its are part of the process. And coffee. Obscene amounts of coffee. And gin. Lot’s of lovely gin.

The universe likes to fuck up the process a lot. If it’s breaking the ‘N’ key on your keyboard, it’s being audited by the IRS. Like a legit audit. Like a we’re going to take your house audit. If that wasn’t bad enough, a week before the most important event of your writing career someone dies.

People die all the time. This person was my mother-in-law. She was in her eighties and 20170115_145401had stage-4 breast cancer. She was diagnosed 2 years ago, so everyday since then was a blessing. At her age, there was nothing they could do for her. She went quietly in the early morning hours. R.I.P. Crisy

Now, my family is prepping for a funeral and my husband is not going to BB18 with me. While I want to scream and be giddy when I see the seating chart or gush over the fact that I will be breathing the same air as E. L. James. I have to keep it all inside.

You better believe that as soon as my feet hit Denver soil, it’s on. So on. Like really on, like lights on and EVERYBODY’S home!turn up.gif

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The final numbers are in from my book blitz!

The promo was featuring Got Mine at a discounted price of $.99 (from $2.99).

COST:
BookBub Featured Deal: $272   (Ad ran for one day: Wednesday, November 29th)
Robin Reads: $65   (Featured in the November 29th email)
Facebook Ads: $250   (Ran from Nov 29-Dec 5th)
Book Blitz: $90   (Ran Nov 29-Dec 5th)
TOTAL SPENT: $677

RESULTS:
Prior to November 29, 2017 I had ZERO sales on Kobo, iBooks, Nook, or any of the other 24 places Draft2Digital makes your book for sale. Sales as of Friday Dec 1st:

  • iBooks: 199
  • Kobo: 190 (most in Canada, then split between Australia and New Zealand)
  • Nook: 213
  • Amazon: 670 (all countries: US, India, UK, Australia, Brazil)
    TOTAL E-books Sold: 1,082

RANKING:
Got Mine was sitting at about 499,000 before the promo.RANKING 345
It made it down to #345 in the Kindle Paid Store.

Cause hindsight is 20/20: I should’ve removed the book from KDP because the pages read on KU do not count towards actual book sales. During the promo/blitz I had 44,823 pages read. Those pages could’ve been actual sales, that could’ve gotten me closer to a best seller’s list. But it is what it is.

Was it worth it?
I will most likely break even for this promo once all the royalties are calculated but I’m still getting sales on Nook, iBooks and Kobo as well as Amazon. I gained followers on my author page and members in my group. So far, I have one new Amazon review. Even though I didn’t make a best seller list, I think the blitz was a success.

Here are my final thoughts:

  • Adding the Facebook ads probably didn’t equate to a lot of sales; however, it did put my book in front of some new faces. I had friends posting screenshots of the ad showing up on all kinds of platforms. It also drew attention to my author page. Maybe the next time I run an ad, it will land on a page of someone who has seen this ad, and they’ll remember me and buy my book. In my opinion, the main value of a FB ad is to generate buzz, not sales.
  • Starting my promo a few days BEFORE the BookBub Deal would’ve helped boost my rating and sales. I wish I could’ve gotten the Robin Reads feature a few days earlier. I’m not that organized.
  • USA today counts sales from Monday-Sunday. Starting a promo on a Monday and running it a full week would’ve given me a better shot.
  • The Book Blitz might have been overkill. They’ve worked for me in the past, but I don’t think this blitz added anything to my already running FB ads.
  • Fun Fact: profit from selling one book in India was $18.98!

 

Want to buy my book?

✦ Amazon ➜ http://amzn.to/2nevdUZ

✦ Kobo ➜ http://bit.ly/2nfeL78

✦ iBooks ➜ http://apple.co/2nff5CS

✦ Nook ➜ http://bit.ly/2BnyX8L

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I am excited to be teaming up with 20 amazing PLN authors to give you our First Annual PLN Author Blog Hop!

For the next 21 days, there will be giveaways each day on the different author’s pages. Stop by and visit all of us, look around, check out our books—you might find a new author that you want to follow 🙂

My day is December 5th!  Make sure you visit my Facebook Author Page!

After you visit, make sure you enter the giveaway. We have signed paperbacks, ebooks, advanced copies, and gift cards too! The blog hop runs from December 4th – December 24th and winners will be picked and notified after the holidays, so be on the lookout.

You can follow along the blog hop below by clicking on the author’s name. Have fun exploring, commenting on the different pages—we look forward to chatting with you!

Wishing you and your families a very happy holiday season!

XOXO

Author Blog Hop Date
Daisy Allen 12/4
Nicole Loufas 12/5
TL Fisher 12/6
A.D. McCammon 12/7
Fabiola Francisco 12/8
Brandi Aga 12/9
Elizabeth Hayes 12/10
Heather Bentley 12/11
HM Sholander 12/12
K. Moore 12/13
J.R. Rogue 12/14
Willow Aster 12/15
Kat Savage 12/16
Rebecca Kate 12/17
Holly Hall 12/18
Dominique Laura 12/19
Juliet Dillon 12/20
V.P. Ortiz 12/21
M.M Clem 12/22
Leah Parker 12/23
Whitney Barbetti 12/24


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Direct Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b26950fe9/?

 

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There’s this thing writers can do to boost sales. It’s called begging. Joking.

Seriously, a book blitz is a great way to get your book in front of a wider audience. I started this blitz journey when Got Mine was selected for a Book Bub featured deal.

I read an article once about a woman that created a marketing plan around her BookBub deal and hit the USA Today Best Seller list. She spent thousands, yes thousands of dollars Abs-Adon Facebook Ads in additional to promoting in other markets.

I am running two Facebook ads and I signed up for a Robin Reads deal. Once I have all my numbers in I’ll post them here so we can figure out if it was worth it.

It’s middle of Day one and I already have sales in 5 countries. My Amazon ranking dropped from 499k to the 500’s. I won’t be hitting a best seller list with my current numbers, but hopefully this will get me reviews on Amazon and followers on Facebook. That’s a win.

So, yeah. You should totally buy my book while it’s only $.99

✦ Amazon ➜ http://amzn.to/2nevdUZ

✦ Kobo ➜ http://bit.ly/2nfeL78

✦ iBooks ➜ http://apple.co/2nff5CS

✦ Nook ➜ http://bit.ly/2BnyX8L

 

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It’s been awhile cause I’ve been busy doing busy writer shit.

That’s a joke…kind of.

New Release: I did finish the first novel in my next series. As per usual, it is nothing like I’ve written before. It’s a new adult sexy dad thing. Not quite a romance. Not really a comedy. Although the early reviews all seem to think it’s funny. I guess the public will decide. Check GOT MINE here.

Query Update:  I decided to send the manuscript that was kindly rejected, to an editor/proofreader. She is someone that has never read any of my work. I’m hoping that gives me a fresh perspective on my writing.  She came highly recommended and works with one of my fave writers.

Technically, she is beta reading. Beta reading is when someone reads your completed WIP and critiques the shit out of it. Beta readers don’t mess with spelling, grammar, punctuation. They get to the meat and bones of the story. In my case, I want to know the following:

  • Does the plot suck.
  • Are the characters likable.
  • Will the reader care?
  • Does it flow from scene to scene?
  • Does it need more romance, internal dialogue, story?

I won’t share who I’m using until the read is complete. Just so I can give an honest review of her work and how it has affected my work.

Fingers Crossed.

Book Signings:  Here is my lastest signing schedule. I’m hoping to add a few more. One in Seattle and on in San Francisco.   I’d love to meet up! (ticket info below)

Book-Signing-Graphic

Authors in the OC: http://bit.ly/2tkEKvz
Traveling Bookshelf: http://bit.ly/2toSqWH
For the Love of Books NOLA: http://bit.ly/2tl0OGw
For the Love of Books Boston: http://bit.ly/2shMJd1
Book Bonanaza: On sale July 31st.
For the Love of Books Phoenix: http://bit.ly/2tp7Wlo

 

 

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I’m sure all my readers are eager to know how my query quest is going. For those that don’t know what the hell is going on I’ll give a brief synopsis. <—- that’s a query joke.

In March I sent a query to an agent, cause that’s how you query. waiting

I waited 6 long weeks for her reply. (Six weeks is standard for query replies)

 

During that time I read my MS and realized it wasn’t really the best it could be so I sent it to someone else to read. She agreed. SO, I prepared myself for the standard boiler plate rejection.

To my surprise…..(drum roll)…. I didn’t get a standard rejection. I got a personalized one. As someone that’s received more than two dozen boiler plate rejections, I gotta say, the personalized one feels much better.

My next dilemma:  The agent asked if I would consider rewriting it as a YA book. If I do decided to rewrite, she said I can resend her the MS in six months.

What to do….What to do…..

Hello! I’m going to rewrite the mother fucker as a YA! It’s almost YA now. I was trying to force the NA tag on it cause I was trying to get away from YA. But maybe YA is my thing. I can write the hell out of some YA.

Lunam-Deception-Teaser-1

So, after I get through the edits on The Lunam Deception (book 2 in the Lunam Series)
which is WAAAYYYY behind.

And I finalize the edits and release for Got Mine. I will sit down slice open a vein and rewrite Alee.

Stay tuned….

 

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I sent a query to an agent. I realized after I sent it that I didn’t mention anything about being self-published. It bothered me at first, but now it’s like, whatever. Does it really even matter? My first book bounces around in the top 100,000 on Kindle’s paid list. It’s better than the top 500,000, right? I wondered if my self-published success or failure would impact an agent’s desire to work with me.

After I sent the query I started stalking websites of other agents I might query. Here’s the thing. This agent’s literary agency only takes children’s books. Well, children’s, MG and YA. My book is more like new adult without high sex content. So, why did I query her?

  1. She asked me to.
  2. I have a solid excuse as to why she can’t represent me should she pass.

Excuses. Excuses. I need these to keep me from slipping into a hole filled with donuts and french fries. A hole that will take me hundreds of hours on the treadmill to dig out of.

On my quest to find other agents should this agent pass I realized something.

Not all published books do well.

Agencies liked to list books they represented. So, I looked up a few and found they have less reviews and lower ratings than indie books in the same genre.

I started thinking why am I torturing myself? Why do I stand in front of the class in my underwear. Landing a lit agent might not amount to anything. Why am I setting myself up to fail?

Because what if I don’t.

What if this agent loves this book and knows the right editor who happens to be looking for this style at this time. What if that publisher wants to buy my book?

I have to believe that every great accomplishment started with what if.

What if I build a computer?

What if we make these wheels round?

What if I add cream to this coffee?

What if I look back on this post and think, “What if I never sent that query?”