Review: "Midnight is a Place" Joan Aiken

Midnight is a Place is one of my all-time favorite books, by one of the 20th century's best children's authors, Joan Aiken. Lucas Bell lives with his guardian, Sir Randolph Grimsby. Everything in his life is dark and gloomy. When a new child, Anna Marie, is brought to the house, Lucas tries to make friends with her, but finds her spoiled and rude. When disaster strikes, Lucas and Anna Marie find themselves on a terrifying journey, involving sewers, the streets of London, and a factory that will keep you from ever looking at a carpet the same way again. You can get this book on Amazon for a penny plus shipping in paperback, or download it to Kindle for 9.99. Worth the read! Once you try Midnight is a Place you will want to read every single one of Joan Aiken's books.

 

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Selling Books at Booths.

As a writer, everything is found by trial and error. What works great for someone else might not work as well for you, since every book is different. I am finding methods that work well for romance and fantasy books written for adults might not generate the same results for the Middle-Grade audience I am trying to reach. So far, my best sales have not been generated from ebooks, book signings or advertising. My best sales have come from booths.
Kids want to pick something up and hold it. They see the excitement on your face and it's contagious. The greatest feeling I've ever had as an author has been when a child sees my book cover and starts jumping up and down.

I have worked extremely hard to find the right cover, lettering, mood, etc. for my book, and that's one thing about kids. They are honest. They don't pretend to like something, they either do or they don't.

I designed bookmarks with my book cover, QR code and web address. At street events I will watch the street for kids that look to be in the right age range. I will walk up to them and ask if they like to read and hand them a bookmark. At my last street event, 50 percent of the kids I handed bookmarks to came over with their parents and bought both of my books. That's amazing! 

It's also good to have a different book to use for an example. Because my book is set in a future, post-apocalyptic environment, I asked each kid "Did you read Hunger Games?" Most of them had and were thrilled to know I had a book in the same genre.

So here are some tips I am compiling through trial and error. 

1. Make your table inviting. Create a large poster of your book cover and glue it to foam board. Have candy or other treats to hand out.

2. Have bookmarks with your book cover and QR code. I designed mine and had them printed on cardstock for 20 cents a page at Staples (each page was five bookmarks). I cut them out myself with a paper cutter. You can also order them from an online company. Think of each one as a seed and possible future sale. 

3. Approach people and be excited. This might be hard for some people if you aren't naturally a people person, but if kids don't think you're excited, they sure won't be.

4. Don't hesitate to ask. If you can't afford a pricey booth at an event, ask if you can go in with a small portion of space with another vendor. Or ask the event cordinators if you can bring an activity or read portions of the story throughout the day in exchange for a discount.

5. If you have more than one book in a series, offer a discount if all are purchased. I sold every single customer both copies of my book because I offered a discount. 

Do you have any more tips? I would love to hear them!

Writer Inspiration

I agreed to put in a blog post as part of a blog hopping event. The writer who asked me to participate is Vila Gingerich. http://vilagingerich.weebly.com.
You might not know who she is now, but when her books are published you will, she is an exceptional writer and I can't wait to own printed copies of her work.
Here are the questions I was asked:


1. What am I working on?
Right now I'm working on a short story for a collection being put together by my friend Joshua Mercier from The Bearded Scribe called "Twice Upon a Time." The collection is going to be fairy tales re-written with a speculative twist. Mine is a re-take on Goldilocks and the Three Bears called "Meta-locks"

2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?
Most people are pretty surprised to see a book that is a Christian/Fantasy/Science-Fiction/Dystopian. It's not normally a grouping you would see together, but it has been done, as anyone who has read C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy would know.

3) Why do I write what I do?
I want to write books I would want to read. I like books for kids the best. So I write books for kids.

4) How does my writing process work?
Sometimes I will go crazy and do nothing but write for days on end. Sometimes I only write a few minutes a day. It depends on what's going on with the family and how I feel about it that day.
 

Book Review: Dragon's Curse by HL Burke

(From the Amazon Description Page)

On her first assignment out of the Academy, young healer and scholar, Shannon Macaulay is summoned to the struggling kingdom of Regone to see to the wounds of a young but crippled king. When the unwanted attentions of an aggressive knight and the sudden appearance of a hated dragon turn her world upside down, she decides to take matters into her own hands even if doing so proves dangerous. 

Finding herself strangely drawn to the company of the dragon, Gnaw, Shannon must force herself out of her safe world of books and botany to come to the aid of her unexpected ally in a strange kingdom, cursed by a fateful encounter with a dragon and the loss of a beloved prince. Can she learn to put aside her fears, and perhaps sacrifice her deepest desires, to help a friend and restore a family? 

A fast-paced fun read by HL Burke. I liked the idea of a human making friends with a dragon, and Burke's characters are well-rounded and fun to get to know. This story glows in your mind days after reading it.

This book is available on Kindle and in Paperback on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Dragons-Curse-Dragon-Scholar-Burke-ebook/dp/B00HNX509S/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=

You can get the book on Kindle FREE today only!

Sequel Jitters

I've been typing up the sequel to my children's novella, The Amazing Adventures of Toby the Trilby, and one thing has really surprised me. I'm super nervous.
I have done public speaking, sang in a rock band, submitted countless works to editors, and gone to job interviews. I gave birth to three children, for crying out loud. But I have NEVER been so nervous as posting my first two chapters of my sequel up for review.
Here's the cover of my first book (available in paperback from Amazon and on Smashwords for any ebook format)

 

 

I have had great reviews and feedback so far, especially from my target audience, the hardest critics to please: kids. So what is my problem?

Anyone else out there deal with sequel jitters?

 

 

Marketing Individual Short Stories

I never knew there was a market for short stories to sell individually on Kindle and Smashwords, but apparently several authors make a decent living from doing just that. Offering short stories for a limited time also helps people lead people to your novels.

I decided to hop on the short story train since I already had several. These were included in a short story collection I self-published a few years ago, but all needed major polishing. So I took the book off the market and began to rework them, with the help of my many friends at Scribophile.

I couldn't invest a ton of money on covers, but I found a gentleman on Fivrr from Switzerland who does brilliant work. He has all positive reviews, and I could see why. So I gave him a chance and was very happy with both of the covers he created for me. http://fiverr.com/jimmygibbs

 

 

 

 

I uploaded both books to Smashwords for free for now. I will probably keep the Falconry listed as my "Freebie" to draw people in and get them interested in my other books, Dryad's Tale will eventually be 99 cents. I have been told by other writers as long as you are upfront about word count, most customers are fine with paying 99 cents for a short story.



 

Downloads:

In 19 days, I've had 80 downloads of The Falconry. I've had 43 of Dryad's Tale in three days. I'm hoping these people will take time to leave reviews! I have also sold one copy of my novella, The Amazing Adventures of Toby the Trilby, as a result of someone enjoying The Falconry. I'm hoping for more to come!

 

 

Marketing:

While Gallery Cat offers a list of sites to market your free Kindle books, (http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/free-ebook-promotion_b52130) most of these places only accept book-length submissions, books with several star ratings, or books only available from Kindle with Amazon. You can also check out http://authormarketingclub.com, which offers free and paid services for authors looking for markets. I am still searching for places to market my free Smashword short stories, and would love to hear suggestions. As I find good places I will come back and revise this blog post.  

Some Tips:
1. Only publish your best work. Get several people to beta-read your short story, ideally people who don't know you and aren't worried about hurting your feelings. Much better to get honest feedback before you publish and when you can still fix things! Scribophile is the best place I have found, a huge critique forum of beginner and professional writers who work hard to support each other. Can't recommend it enough.
2. Follow the Smashwords guideline for format uploads so your story looks good in e-reader form. It can look perfect in Word and look terrible on Kindle. Smashwords has a whole manual on uploading, and they provide an awesome template you can cut and paste your story into. I promise, it will save you hours.
3. Choose a compelling cover. If you don't have graphic design experience, get someone else to design it for you. If you don't have a big budget, give someone at Fiverr a chance. I've been happy so far.
4. Spread the word. Let friends and family know through Twitter, Facebook and e-mail. Make sure people know they can download the Kindle app for free for their smartphone or computer, even if they don't have an e-reader.
5. Include links to your novels, website and other short stories at the end of your books. If people like one story, they will probably want more. Make it easy for them to access your other word.

I would love to hear your experience publishing Kindle short stories and any other comments you have.

You can download my two short stories for FREE from my author page at Smashwords. Let me know what you think!



 

How to Get People to Review Your Fiction Book

     Those who publish with big-name book producers have help when it comes to publicity. Agents and marketing departments scramble to get the word out about the next amazing novel. After all, if they don't sell your book, they don't make back their investment, right? But for those of us in the Indie world, we must get the word out ourselves. The first step in this process, for me, is getting people to review my book online.
    
     Gone are the days when a writer could design a killer book cover, come up with an amazing blurb for the back, and sit back and hope people would be intrigued enough to pick it up off the bookshelf, turn it over and read the blurb, and run to the cash register to pay for it. While many Indies can sell books through local brick and mortar stores, the majority of our books--we hope--will sell online. Now when someone sees a book on Amazon they might be interested in, they study the cover, read the description... and read the reviews.

     Obviously, a book with reasonable reviews will be more likely to sell. This causes a vicious cycle some writers have allowed themselves to get sucked into; reviews=sales=money. So many writers take the obvious route and pay for people to review their work. Now, I am aware there are several companies out there with reasonable reputations who have review services, but I do not recommend Indies should spend their hard-earned money on these services. At least, not at first. Here are my recommendations for getting reviews.

     Before I get a flurry of indignant letters, please let me say I would never encourage authors to a: trade positive reviews with other authors or b: ask friends and family to flood their pages with positive reviews. Reviews written dishonestly are never acceptable.

    1. Have your book available in ebook format, and order ARC copies. I recommend budgeting a certain amount for review copies and shipping. Remember if you are including a personal letter to your reviewer you cannot send the book Media Mail. If you are planning to publish in hardcover you might want to consider ordering your ARCs in paperback just to save on shipping costs.

    2. Find online reviewers.  This is a time-consuming task, especially because many reviewers refuse to even consider reading Indie books. Don't give up! Even if a small portion agree to review your book it will be valuable. One place to start is Amazon. You can find Amazon's top reviewers here.  Find reviewers who have reviewed books in your genre. They should have a profile page where you can find links to their blogs and information on submitting reviews. Another great place to find bloggers who specifically review Indie books is a great list on The Indie View, found here. Most of the bloggers who have reviewed my book are from this list.

   3. Take time and care to ask nicely. Do not churn out a form email you quickly send to every name on the list. Bloggers are human beings, and they receive tons of requests for reviews. Read their guidelines carefully. If you see a book in the same genre as yours, mention it in your letter. Mention you saw their blog, and what you thought of it. Tell a little bit about the book, and include a link to your website, Amazon listing, Goodreads listing, etc. Offer a review copy in ebook format or print. NEVER offer payment for a review. This is insulting to most bloggers. And NEVER ask for payment for your book. They are taking time and effort to review your book out of the many they receive.

   4. Give out review copies to people in your community. If you have written a children's book, give copies to teachers and daycare workers. If you have a young adult novel, try high school librarians or youth workers. I always include a little slip of paper with a request for an honest review and my Amazon, Goodreads and Smashwords link. People appreciate being asked for their opinion, and sometimes these can be the best reviews. Not to mention if they like your book they will probably recommend it to other people.

    5. Ask everyone who purchases your book to leave a review. Make sure you include information in the book about where and how they can leave it. Always remember to say their honest opinion is extremely important to you as a writer.

    6. Sit back and wait... the hardest part! This is your baby, after all, and it's agonizing to wait and wonder what people will think about it. But pestering bloggers and reviewers is never the way to go. Some bloggers might take months to get to your book, which is why it's important to contact several at a time. Don't count on just a few people to give you reviews. And whatever you do, if you get a less than positive review, do not respond. This will only make things worse.

Do you have any suggestions for finding reviews? I would love to hear them! And if you are a blogger who gives Indie book reviews please feel free to add a link to your blog below as well.