Tag Archives | free books

Business decisions we make.

By on February 24, 2014 in book reviews, publishing industry

Deciding to self publish, go Indie, whatever you want to call it these days was a business decision for me. And along with running a business, I have to make tough decisions when it comes to my production schedule and what I choose to write.

For a long time I focused on middle grade. The first few manuscripts I wrote were middle grade. One was published briefly last year with a small press before they closed. I’m not ready to self publish it. Maybe someday…

There are certain types of middle grade books that are just as much meant for adults as they are for kids. One such book I recently read was a beautifully written survival story. It was Ice Dogs by Terry Lynn Johnson. Maybe you’ve heard of it. Adults and kids will both love this one.

When I read middle grade I love, I end up shaking my fists at the sky and shouting (on the inside) “I will write middle grade again!” But for now, I am writing other kinds of stories that I love just as much. Business decisions.

Another great business decision is furthering our knowledge through workshops, reading, writing…etc. Here are two for you that are FREE!

Indie Recon with lots of great speakers and chats including the Indelibles’ Susan Kaye Quinn, Rashelle Workman, Chelsea Fine, and Chelsea C. Cameron. It runs this week the 25th-27th! Check it out.

And the second is a free YA science fiction thriller: Mindspeak by Heather Sunseri. Download it before the deal goes away!

I’m thinking that regardless of publishing route there are tough decisions to be made. If you want to share yours in the comments, I’d love to hear!

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To cry and to laugh and perspective.

By on November 26, 2013 in spies, Writing

Who said this publishing journey would be easy? (No one) Any posts by the published authors – traditional or Indie – will say the same thing. The writing is the easy part. The revising is the easy part. But dealing with the hard work of a small business and the ups and downs is emotionally hard.

There are so many things to make us cry like disappointing sales or screwed-up formatting or not enough chocolate chip cookies. Before that it was query letters and submission processes. Some days it’s not a problem and other days because of other pressures of life the smallest thing will set us off. It’s okay. Breathe deep, make some hot cocoa and put disappointments in perspective.

There are many things to make us smile and laugh too like good sales, pride of our own work, seeing friends’ success, and beyond writing and publishing, our family and friends. (That perspective thing again.)

Have a great Thanksgiving to my American friends! Here are some books and new releases for you to enjoy!

Vanishing Point is now free. Enjoy!!!!

Lies can be deadly.

Amazon ~ Kobo

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DANGEROUS DEPTHS, book 2 of The Sea Monster Memoirs

by Karen Amanda Hooper, has washed ashore.
Hell hath no fury like a selkie separated from his true love.
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EAST OF EDEN!!

Regret is a formidable foe.

Her parents had a second chance at love? Would she and Cade get one, too?
Amazon | Kobo | Smashwords
Coming soon to Barnes & Nobles and itunes
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Tattered Dream
(Desolation Diaries #3)
Miro has seen Akaros’ return–and James’ death. But James has been to Hell and back and refuses to let Akaros rob him of his future with Miri. Desi might not be there to save him this time but James is determined to save him.
Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble
Have a great week!! Tell me what you’ve been reading!
Comments { 10 }

Humongous stupendous giveaway!

By on May 13, 2013 in book reviews

Have you heard about Elle Casey’s Massive Springtime Indie Book Giveaway? Please share the link to this page with anyone you know who might like free books. There are 190 titles and 1,554 copies to give away!!  Woo hooo!

A Spy Like Me is included!

Click over to Elle’s blog to fill out a Google form for every book you’d like to win!













Thanks Elle for organizing this fantastic giveaway!

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Marketing strategies for traditional vs self publishing – is there a difference?

By on November 30, 2011 in publishing industry, social media

Two posts yesterday really got me thinking:

Jody Hedlund blogged about the effectiveness of free books on sales.

For some indie authors it has made a huge difference, shooting their books up on the charts and creating lots of sales for their other books. Or at the very least getting their book titles on the virtual shelf, on bestseller lists, so readers can see them.

But maybe that’s not as important for traditionally pubbed authors. Maybe readers are less likely to make the jump from free or 2.99 to 10 dollars than they are from free to 2.99. What do you think?

If that’s true, then offering free books could be a wiser strategy for the self published author.

The YA Highway blogged about authors disappearing from social media after they have book deals or are published. The comments show a variety of opinions.

So many different perspectives.

The NY best selling author probably doesn’t need to be online as much, well, because their career is pretty much established. Though fans love it when they do participate.

The midlist author, who is barely selling through, probably should be online, interacting, friending, promoting, being themselves and attracting new readers to their blogs and hopefully their books. Especially when their books aren’t in bookstores anymore or never were. Why wouldn’t they do everything possible to get their names out there?

Even if it’s not their thing or comfort zone.

Even if they don’t feel they have the time.

There are so many posts about how to approach social media so that it doesn’t eat up writing time or family time.

The self published author’s career might possibly die a slow death without the author braving social media, leading the charge, getting out there, not spamming, but interacting.

Of course, there are always exceptions. I can think of several. Because as we know social media doesn’t mean automatic success. The book haz to be good.

At one point in time, it could’ve been said that our only responsibility as authors was to write the next book. Do you still feel that’s true? Again, I’d say it depends on what perspective you’re coming from.

And what would happen if a traditionally published author promoted and marketed like a self-published author? If they truly felt the complete responsibility for the success of their book? Would they still retreat after being published? Would it make any difference? Or do they truly need to market in completely different ways?

Here are Angela Scott’s sure fire suggestions for book promotion for all kinds of publishing, in case you missed it.

What do you all think? (Of course, feel free to use the argument that social media is still so new that we don’t know what actually works besides writing a great book.)

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