Ice Bucket challenge with my two little Ninja Assassins.

Behind all the words...
This is a little snippet of me.
The ALS website (which is what this is all about) is here: http://www.alsa.org/
Sadly, just read that a poll for Brits who have taken the IBC, says that only half have actually donated!
53% don't even know why they're doing it/what the cause is!
I apologise on behalf of the apathetic and ignorant people in my homeland. Psychologists - Normative Social Influence being demonstrated to the nth degree.
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Preparing for the rainy day.

Dew on mum’s lawn in North Yorkshire this morning. Sunny, but chilly. 

Blue, cold skies.

‘It’s going to be nice down south this week.’ she said.

A train back to King’s Cross with my daughters.

Back home and a quick check of the met office website for the week.

Rain all day tomorrow.

February 23rd saw weekend temperatures of 19.5 degrees, and here we are in August with a max of about 16. I really don’t like this unseasonable weather. I have seasonal affective disorder, just like my main character.

I could be getting ready for the Burning Man festival right now.

Still, always look on the bright side of life. I can do a bit of promotion for the book. The KDP select knock-on effect has somewhat dwindled. Time to think outside the box.

Where, oh where, do you go now with a $0.99 ebook? I think this will be a particularly interesting two weeks in terms of raising profile. I’ve scoured the internet for sites to advertise MMMSC as a $0.99 ebook. But, in the long term (in keeping with ‘thinking’ outside the box), I might try some avenues outside of the mighty Internet. Shall I try the traditional pen and paper route?

My problem (or, redemptive quality?) is that I’m flat out refusing to spend any money on advertising. After spending over £500 on a proof reader (worth it, worth it, worth it), and £60 on cover options, I can’t justify spending more money on premium advertising options for a ninety-nine center! Not sure if I’m in the minority on this front.  As always, I’ll report the results back in a couple of weeks.

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So, it's on to write down the sequel...

So, it’s on to write down the sequel.

I’m getting to grips with Scrivener, and I’m thinking this piece of software could be the golden ticket to pure writing pleasure. Not that I don’t experience writing pleasure in other forms…I definitely do. I love it.

For the first book, I created hundreds of post-it notes with detailed, hand-drawn scenes, character profile pics, and pieces of plot ideas. They’re all rammed into a portfolio busting at the seams. Good days. Awkward to spread out in confined spaces.

Scrivener is going to address this paper parody in a positive way - Here’s hoping.

Nothing was incidental in the first book; nothing at all. Throw away scenes and comments…not so much…

I’m excited about the first chapter. I’m finding that flow again. Writing little and often is the remit. 4,026 words in (not that I particularly care for word count - but it helps I suppose, in terms of ‘measurable’ progression).Tentatively placed a July 2015 release date on the website, but, possibly (probably) sooner.

 

Don’t want to be too eager. Don’t want to be over-zealous.

Want to be faithful to the original. Want to be imaginative and colourful.

Time will tell. Time will indeed tell.

Got the titles for the third and fourth. ‘Umming’ and ‘Ahhing’ over the title for this one.

Can’t wait to develop characters…

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KDP Select Results/Analysis

KDP select run-through.

So, I decided to use the KDP select feature and use 4 of my 5 free days from the beginning.

Overall, I think this has been worthwhile venture. 

I’ll go through what I did (with my thoughts) a day at a time.

Day 1: 55 downloads.

In the run up to the first day, I advertised my ebook on about 20-25 Free ebook websites. I purposefully didn’t pay for any premium advertising. I actually had a list of about 50-55 sites where I intended to promote, but some of these required 7-14 days notice. (I had five days to spare.) Others seemed to be free sites, but when I finalised the registration process and was at the stage of confirming my book on their page, I was suddenly directed to payment options. Certain sites required a certain quota of amazon book reviews before the book could be considered for promotion.  All in all, my options were reduced from 50/55 to 20/25.

I would have been happy for 50-60 downloads over the course of four days and to get that figure on the first day felt great. I finally opened that bottle of champagne.

Day 2: 38 downloads.

I managed to get my ebook promotion on two ‘on the day’ sites.  Downloads came down a bit, but I was still encouraged.  The drop could be because my ebook was no longer on the main/first page of some of the sites, and those who distributed free book emails tended to do it for a certain day eg free books for Tues etc.

Day 3: 22 downloads.

No promotion on this day. This was my ‘learning’ day. 22 downloads is great, don’t get me wrong, but I learned that it’s probably best to intensify the promotion over 2/3 days, rather than 4. I didn’t promote at all, because I wanted to check if copies would shift without my hand.

Day 4: 44 downloads.

I advertised across seven ‘on the day’ facebook pages that promoted free ebooks. I worded my message carefully, so that people knew it was the final day. This worked. Some people shared and thumbs-upped my msg.

Overall, the 159 downloads exceeded my expectations. It didn’t have thousands and thousands of downloads like some authors have experienced, but that didn’t matter.  I hoped that the free ebook might translate into reviews and a raise in profile. It did the latter. On the ‘people who viewed your page, also viewed’ section of Amazon, it was clear that people were now looking at my book.

I did have a five star review on.com which was great. (I had one review on .co.uk prior to this.) This, I think, was someone who purchased the book just prior to the promotion.  I was very grateful for this review.  It made a big difference.

In terms of the knock on effect on sales - which authors seem to report - this did happen/is happening. Not much, marginal maybe, but noticeable enough.

Just want to say a big thank-you for the support, downloads, page-views and a big mention to the sites that give you the platform for promoting you work. As always, if anybody has any questions, ask away.

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KDP Select

My dad said he was ‘very proud’…and that will do nicely.

Honestly, I’ve never heard him say that. I mean, never. He had the paperback version delivered to his workplace, and then called me.

‘It’s a lot better than I expected.’

And then he said it. Those exact words.  I was taken back.

I love ebooks, but for my pa - despite everything I’ve told him about my writing - it’s not until he gets an 8.5x5.5x1 copy in his hands, and he feels the weight of the book, and he looks at the front cover…that his boy actually has written a book.

It’s been a good week.

KDP Select downloads over my four free days.

Day 1) 55

Day 2) 38

Day 3) 22

Day 4) 44

Total: 159

…And, some sales after too.

I’ll print some thoughts about this on Sunday (what worked, what didn’t). But, for now; it achieved pretty much what I wanted it to do.

I’m very grateful to all who downloaded - very grateful indeed.

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Final FREE YA ebook day...Scrivener...

FINAL FREE YA EBOOK DAY. Thanks for the downloads! LAST CHANCE LINKS BELOW

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

Scrivener,

I’m quite excited about using this program. I’m going to post to forums to see what others in the community think.

It looks like it could be an incredibly useful acquisition for writing the second in the series. I have a strange feeling that Scrivener could be just about the perfect tool for me. I’m already jotting down ideas and playing with it…messing with character/scene cards etc…but I’m not using it anywhere like it should be used.

Truth is, I’m absolutely shattered after releasing the book.

And now, there’s a massive Scrivener tutorial to work through. _.GROAN._.

After countless days reading books/PDF’s on formatting, reading books/websites about promotion, having a gargantuan 3 day wrestle with headers & footers on Word, and filling out free ebook submission forms in ready for the promotion…the last thing on this earth I want to do is read/work through a tutorial.

It will be worth it, but my eyes hurt and my fingers are blistered.

._.GROAN._.

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(Desperately (and I mean desperately) sad news about Robin Williams. My only hope is that Robin’s sad passing will trigger us all to get real about depression. I’ll post stuff about depression in due course. I’m thinking about you lots, Robin…)

FREE YA ebook day III and thoughts on KDP select!

Free YA ebook day III - Mis-fit, Misplaced, Miss Shelly Clover.

…and, some more thoughts on being a self-published author.

Links to free books here.

Amazon.com

Amazon.UK

So, KDP Select.

I’ve unpublished myself from Smashwords temporarily. I’ve enrolled in the 90 day KDP select programme. I’m on day 3 of my assigned 4 free days of book giveaways.

Thoughts.

Too early to call. But, from what I can assess, so far:

J The book is being downloaded, and is reaching new people. Thank-you everybody!

J I’m quite high up in the Australian/Canadian/UK/German/USA charts for Dystopian & Paranormal for teen fiction (FREE category)

J People are viewing my blog/website - not many, but encouraging nonetheless.

L No reviews or feedback (yet).

More substantial and informative thoughts about this process coming your way on Wednesday evening.

What is interesting about KDP Select (and I am glad I anticipated this), is that your book will languish in cyberspace, unless you advertise/promote it. It will do nada.

So, what I did - in the days running up to this promotion - was contact about 20-25 promotion sites. I advertised my Four day Free push through these. I ignored the premium listings. I didn’t want to spend a penny on advertising, and despite the temptation to spend a few dollars here and there, I stuck to my principles.

I have one 5 star review on Amazon.uk, but no others on Amazon.com/ca/de/au etc. This can really hurt your downloads by all accounts. I’ll print my thoughts on this on Wed, and will give everybody an analysis of download figures for each day.

In the meantime, thanks to everybody for your support. 

And, whoever it is who keeps +1(ing) each post I've made - you are one v.special person to me.

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