E. A. West Writing

Barnes and Noble CUT Affiliate Monies on Ebooks and Other Electronic Media

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Ann West) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 14:06:00 +0000

My Nook is sad.

First, a quick word on affiliate traffic....for those who don't know. Most online retailers offer a small commission on the purchases made to a website owner willing to advertise their products. Amazon has such a program, called Amazon Affiliates with very cool widgets and API tools. Like most areas of comparison between Barnes and Noble and Amazon, Barnes and Noble's program is a half-hearted shell of the robust Amazon offering.

Barnes and Noble's affiliate program is through LinkShare. It's not even in-house. Then, only select affiliates were allowed to "deep link" that is link to specific products to recommend to their readers. And finally, the death knell has sounded for Nook, as the Terms and Conditions were just updated to include this:

All products sold on BN.com receive 6% commission with the exception of customized gift cards, eBooks, digital magazines, digital newspapers, and any other ePeriodical.

That's right, affiliate percentages are only 4-6% on average, a few programs offer the sweet deal of 10%. To be clear, affiliates ONLY receive this commission on the purchases made by the traffic THEY drive to the site. This is tracked using cookies and tokens in the URL.

Affiliates ALREADY lost out on significant ebook affiliate monies because there's only a 30-60 minute window for a purchase to be made for it to count towards the affiliate. So, if I visited say, KotC, saw an ebook that struck my fancy, downloaded a sample, read it, and then purchased the book, they don't get affiliate monies for that. I'd have to go back to KotC, click the link again, and then make my purchase for it count for them. And on a $.99 ebook, that's a $0.4-$.06 commission for them for taking the time to highlight the book for me....

THIS IS BAD FOR NOOK INDIE BUSINESS

There was already a gross disproportion of Kindle book review and recommendation sites than Nook Book sites. Partly because it took so long for Barnes and Noble to even HAVE an affiliate network, and Amazon's been running an in-house affiliate program for years. With no return on advertising a Nook ebook, there is really no monetary incentive for a review site or book recommendation site to advertise Nook ebooks. Sorry, Barnes and Noble, advertising is NOT free!!!!!

It takes HOURS to go through author submissions, verify information, and make daily listings of books. I don't know of a single ebook reviewer or site owner about to retire on the riviera from that 4-6% kick back for advertising products. There ARE big time sites with tons of traffic that make a decent living doing what they do best, advertise to the masses, but the reality is the more traffic you have, the more staff you need and server costs you incur.

I am VERY disappointed in Barnes and Noble's continual stifling attitude towards digital reading. They already do not link paperback and Nook book versions on many books, burying ebook listings of titles below insidious products like Noise-Cancelling Headphones!

When my ebook of Cancelled was available on Nook, the keyword Cancelled brought up the Amazon distributed paper book first. Yes, the AMAZON distributed Createspace paperback was result #1. What was next? Three sets of noise-cancelling headphones. Finally, below the fold, they listed the Nook book published through their own digital publishing arm, PubIt!.

To now cut affiliate marketing on Nook books either screams to me they are lacking funds to pay for the results-rewarded advertising campaign, or they are indeed preparing to spin Nook off into a separate company... Either way, it's a really dumb way to give Amazon yet ANOTHER advantage.

This isn't about killing the indies etc. as it applies to ALL Nook books, including traditionally published ones. This is about Barnes and Noble repeatedly sending the message that they will not encourage the sale of their digital products to help readers who prefer reading on a Nook rather than a paperback. And THAT is poor customer service.

A robotics engineer asks his business partner to marry him, but a previous one-night stand is having his baby. CANCELLED is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble

WIP: STONE. Can Melanie Stone let her mother back into her life and kick out the creep trying to worm his way in? March 2012.

I Am Neither a Pimp Nor a Whore, But I Market My Book

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Ann West) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:31:00 +0000

So the blog world from indie writers has hit a hot button issue and even poor The Passive Voice Guy is not immune to the fire and hate spewing forth.

The spark to ignite this wildfire of nastiness? KDP Select. As someone who has been on BOTH sides of the fence, maybe I can help make a little peace.

FIRST, ON MARKETING

On a few comments and blogs lately I've seen writers who Tweet their book likened to "pimps." Apparently, I am "pimpin' my book." Momma needs a new pair of shoes!

This is utterly ridiculous. If you write a book, and publish it, you are not a whore OR a pimp to ask people to read it. You did that JUST by publishing. You put your words out there for whatever reason: to entertain, to educate, to share, to thrill, etc. It's seems rather self-centered to consider your motives to be higher or lower than another writer's noble intentions.

Me? I wrote CANCELLED to educate through fiction. Sex outside of marriage is still a big decision, even in our modern-everything-goes-society (and I'm not trying to be hypocritical, I had sex before marriage but I knew and prepared for the risks). Also, the only time a father can get custody of their child is if the mother is seriously flawed. I don't agree with that system. I know too many mothers that suck, plain and simple. There is no hard and fast rule you can make about how "good" someone makes as a parent based on their gender.

But I digress. I do not appreciate being labeled a "spammer" or a "pimp" because I tweet my book link and a tag line once every few hours. I'd rather get a link to a writer's book than a link to yet ANOTHER blog post on why indie authors need to edit. I like to RT book links because it helps any of my followers who read find new titles to consume. Authors who don't like other authors who do this, there's a very easy solution. Unfollow. And don't expect the rest of us to RT your links. We're only strong when we work together, not against each other.

SECOND, AMAZON IS EVIL

Greedy? Out to make a profit? Yes. Evil? Meh, I can't go that far. KDP Select isn't going to kill Barnes and Noble. Barnes and Noble's failure to ACT is going to kill Barnes and Noble. And it sucks, because I love my Nook. But when Barnes and Noble gives me these results for the keyword "CANCELLED":

Cancelled (my paperback)
Noise Cancelling Headphones
Noise Cancelling Headphones
Noise Cancelling Headphones
Noise Cancelling Headphones
Cancelled (the nook book out for more than a month before the paperback and astronomically more sales)

It's clear to me they don't get it...yet. I have been to the site many, many times, I'm even logged in as ME, a person who has BOUGHT Cancelled the Nook book. I have NEVER purchased headphones. It's pretty safe to assume I'm looking for a book I've already bought to gift to someone (another behavior on the site I had done before).

There's a book I had to read before I started college called "Who Moved My Cheese?" It's about cheese (success) being moved and the difference between a mouse (business man) who sits still hoping the cheese will move back to it's original position and another mouse (business man) who chases that cheese everywhere it goes, (arguably picking up crumbs as he goes). At the time, I was pissed off my first "college" textbook read like a damn children's book. Now, 12 years later, I GET IT.

In this industry, the cheese is moving every couple of months. First, you have to make sure it has indeed moved. I did not jump on the KDP Select Bandwagon at first. I waited nearly 2 months. I wanted to see the strengths and weaknesses. I guessed at some of them, and I (and others) were right about some things, wrong about others.

Drawbacks

It's not a magic bullet for everyone. There is a LOT involved with "going free" and most it has to do with the day you pick. Accidentally pick a day you didn't know 5 Mega Selling Authors were going to make their collection free, jam up the system, and oh yeah Amazon decides to change the whole site screwing up rankings and sales reporting? Ouch. Bad luck. Pick a random Monday at the end of the month as a test day, assuming you won't get anything like the results reported because it's too late, that was just the After-Christmas rush and race up the free charts? Cool. Good luck.
You are stuck for 90 days with Amazon as your sole partner to find the cheese.
Anything new that comes on another sales channel you don't have the flexibility to respond to.
Write or wrong.. other authors will be upset. (Pun intended). There will be jealousy, feelings that you've "picked a side" and a little us vs. them.
Higher rate of returns.

Benefits

Higher rate of returns. Wait, how is this both? Easy. Because that $0.00 stays bigger than the other price points on the KDP Select books, you get more reader who do that one-click thinking it's free. If they aren't Prime and borrowing, obviously it purchases the book on the credit card required on the Kindle account. Ca-ching. Now once the mistake is realized, there are readers who return the book. But I bet there are just as many who go "Oh, it was $2.99, not free. Oh well," because calling and cancelling the order/getting a refund for less than $5 is considered not worth their time nor do they want to admit they made a mistake. Same marketing type thinking that makes prices end in .99. Consumers think in the lower number... $2.99 registers a closer to $2 that one penny shy of $3.
Going free to gain exposure and the sales that come AFTER that.

I've seen some writings about how any author who makes "best seller" lists after going free shouldn't count because you didn't best sell anything, you gave away for free. I agreed with this BEFORE I went free. I also erroneously thought Amazon was moving these FREE books right into the best seller lists based on their FREE downloads. They are not.

I had 8,250 downloads of CANCELLED in 24 hours. I don't consider that best selling, even though I made it to #12 on the Free Fiction Chart and #3 on the Free Contemporary Fiction Chart. I DO consider that a Top Downloaded Title, as I beat out over 70,000 other books.

After you go free, Amazon dumps you right back where you were in the sales ranking before you went free. For me that was #249,000 something. The difference? You are now an Also Bought for the books that were next to you. So you are now part of a loose team of books, that just had amazing exposure, branded together. As they see sales, you see sales, and vice-versa. This is why it takes a few days for sales to really ramp up because some books may not come off Free status when yours does etc.

To make the best-seller status AFTER you go free, you still have to make the physical paid sales on that day. Last night, I made it to #1238 in Paid Kindle and #74 on the Women's Fiction Best Seller list. I had over 100 sales in 24 hours (might be more, KDP is screwed up). I'm not a mega-seller. But CANCELLED is a best-selling Women's Fiction book.

Yeah, but you only got those sales because you went free....

And others only got their best selling status because their publisher pasted the book cover on every bus, subway, and taxi in major cities. Or after buying a $250-$500 advertisement on a reader blog. I didn't trick any readers into buying my book. I didn't tell them it was going to bring them fame or fortune. I didn't hold a gun to their heads as they nervously clicked "Buy Now." I participated in a marketing campaign that gave away my book for free. I even got my first 1-star review for my trouble! :)

Giving away a free sample is as old as commerce itself. I chose to use KDP Select to see what it could do for exposure to my first book a month and a half before my next book comes out. I don't regret it, and I wouldn't have regretted it if I only had that 21 sales I received on the first day after. Before KDP Select, I was convincing one reader at a time to buy my book, with the highest month's sales ever recorded at 28 on Amazon. I don't have hundreds of dollars to spend on marketing, right now, but I can give 90 days of exclusivity. I may not be in a position to do that next year when I have a larger following on multiple devices. Being in business is all about leveraging what assets you have at the right moment, and that's not always money.

So let's all remember we are in this to get our books read. One of the best ways to have that happen is convincing readers to buy the book. And to do that, readers have to know the book exists. So as long as the marketing is positive and ethical, I won't begrudge your attempts to rise above the din, and I'll cheer you along the way! We all have to write, publish, and promote the best ways we can. That's what this indie hokey-pokey is all about.

My KDP Select Team (Other Books)

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Ann West) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:59:00 +0000

I know, "Elizabeth, when are you going to shut up about this KDP Select thing?" Soon. I promise. But I need to explain something I haven't seen explained ANYWHERE else. Let me introduce to you, my KDP Select Team:

See those books were next to me on the many Free charts that I was on. I was only free for a day, many of these titles ARE JUST now coming off free. And why are they on my "team?"

Because if you look at their listings, my book is on the first few pages of their Also Boughts. So for the next few days, when someone clicks on the books above, my book will be right underneath with "Customers who Bought This Also Bought...."

And this is why I ran my "Test" Now that I know how the algorithm works (and I knew vaguely before this, but this is very specific) I can use it to my advantage. Next time I go free, every book next to me on that chart will be tweeted by me as much as I can to encourage readers to buy it for "Free" as well if they've bought my book. Why? Because where you rank on the Also Bought pages depends on how many readers who bough one book also bought your book. This time, I'm only on the first page of two books' Also Boughts. I was also only free for one day. Most of these books have been free for at least 2-3 days.

I did think, but didn't behave like this, when I was free and sharing a few links of other books that are free "Aren't I just helping my competition? After all, if readers get their book, I'll bump me down in the rankings." NO. I mean, yes, that can happen, but remember those free rankings DO NOT just shuffle over to paid. Your goals while you are free are:

Get as many people as possible to download your book.
Get as many people as possible to download other books in your genre so you are "connected" to them when you all go back to paid as an Also Bought.
Try not to wear out your computer's refresh button.

So I hope that adds a little more illumination on this whole "go free" business. It's not a magic bullet, as clearly I am not #1 on the paid charts or anything, but it is a strong method of getting your book linked to other books in the Also Bought category.

#ROW80 Another In a Long Line of "I Screwed Up."

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Ann West) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:16:00 +0000

"Step right up, folks. This here's the rootin-in-tootin'est most AMAZONing ride we got!"

"How many tickets, sir?"

"Why just 90 tickets, there, young lady. You think you're strong enough to take on this here roller coaster."

::gulp:: "I. . . I'll do my best, sir."

::Maniacal laughter ending in a sneer.:: "Hold on tight, lovely....MWAHAHAHA."

On Monday, I took a spin on the FREE Rollercoaster Ride Amazon offers to indie writers called KDP Select's Free Day. :) Cancelled by the way, is now a Top Ten Downloaded Ebook. Here's how the ride went for me:

Got about halfway up the first hill, and I can't see the top. It just keep climbing! The rollercoaster didn't stop until my little ebook car reached #3 on the Contemporary Fiction free charts and #12 on the Free Fiction charts. Holy crap, the Amazon theme park stretches further than the eye can see! (I ended up with 8,250 downloads in 24 hours).

The Rock Bottom

Then WHOOOOOOOOOOOOSH. You hit rock bottom. And I panicked. You see, the rhetoric has been (from the complainers) "They go free, race up the charts, and then they're just right up on the best seller list. It's not fair!" I misinterpreted that. You see, there is no sideways "Everyday I'm Shufflin'" to the paid side of things. Nope. Amazon drops you right where you were BEFORE you went free (#249,227 for me). You have to climb your way back up! THAT'S why authors are saying they have "best-selling" status after going free (assuming they do).

I tried out a higher price, $4.99, thinking it might help set me apart once the book came off free. Nah. It's sinking like a stone. I sold 20 copies yesterday (31 but 11 were returned), and made it as high as #4,760. That is still phenomenal. Highest I've ever been before that was #12,000 something, that was after selling 18 books at $.99 as part of a book launch in November. But I'm an indie, I can right a ship as it's listing.... I just lowered my price to $2.99.

So, 8,000 downloads later, I'm feeling awesome! No I didn't have runaway sales success right after, but I sold more than 3 times what I had the entire month in one day. (I only had 6 sales in January before going free).

#ROW80

I wasn't as productive, what with the roller coaster and all that. I did however work on my reader site, got the original first chapter back up as an extra. Also, I am getting WAAAAAY better at putting on my OWN oxygen mask before helping others. Because I do so many other things; formatting ebooks, helping with websites, etc. I managed to not stress myself out by remembering that *I* have to come first. A sick, frazzled Elizabeth Ann West helps no one.

So I am still at only 5,000 words on STONE. But don't worry, unless I can't make great progress before next week, I'm not panicking. It's written, it just really needs to be typed.

I also need to finish those signed ebooks.

I have two files to format. (one in my possession half way done, one on its way possibly, next week).

And best of all, that roller coaster ride gave me a confidence that is going to help carry me through this tumultuous year of writing and publishing. Maybe I won't be a best seller this year, but I managed to beat out over 69,988 other free fiction books on Monday, and that's something!

UPDATE: Just got my first 1-star review. I'm very surprised. I thought I would be way more upset, but I'm not. I almost find it funny, as horrible as that sounds. I'm a little intrigued that it lifts some pretty unique phrasing from a 4/5 Black Dresses review I got on Chick Lit Is the New Black that I tweeted out while I was free. The first problem was the ending for the reader, but it's pretty clear in the reviews and product description it's not a formula romance. And the reviewer has no other reviews. If it's a real reader, I feel bad that they didn't like it, but it wasn't a craft issue, so there's nothing I can really do about it. The reader just didn't like the story line.

I got another 5 star review from another reader who made me laugh. I got bonus points for a MC carrying the "idiot's ball" not to just move the plot forward, but out of "human, understandable motives."

So going free brought a ton of firsts, and man do I feel awesome about it. I just wish I didn't have to go exclusive for 90 days with Amazon to gain this amount of experience in 48 hours.

A robotics engineer asks his business partnerI to marry him, but a previous one-night stand is having his baby. CANCELLED is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble

WIP: STONE. Can Melanie Stone let her mother back into her life and kick out the creep trying to worm his way in? March 2012.

Don't forget, I have many, many friends who are also part of a Round of Words in 80 Days. Please make sure you visit their blogs and give them some comment love!

An Experiment Gone Horribly RIGHT

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Ann West) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:23:00 +0000

In math class, we had these word problems about objects rising and then at what point does the object stop rising and begin to fall, where will the object be a t= some random number?

I sucked at those.

Yesterday, I made CANCELLED free on Kindle through the KDP Select program. I don't know if I caught a magical Monday of no competition or if the planets and stars aligned, but what I do know is that thing took off like a rocket!

I woke up, giddy, at 6 AM with my husband. I checked my "sales" had 250. I was ecstatic. Saw that I was ranked #11,309 out of #70,000. I thought to myself, "Yay, I might make it into somewhere between #1,000 and #2,000 FREE" That was my hope.

9 hours later, I cracked the Top #100 FREE by making it to #89. I was "selling" free books at about a rate of 4.5 per minute.

It is now 12:19 AM, there are 3 more hours of my "free" status. I am:
#32 in FREE KINDLE.
#17 in Free fiction.
#8 in Free Romance.
#5 in Free Contemporary Romance.
#4 in FREE in Contemporary Fiction.

How in the heck am I doing best in Contemporary Fiction?

The more startling aspect I learned from going free is just how big Amazon really is. Before this, I sold my 6 little books each month for the last two months and thought "Wow, I'm really lucky to have those sales." NOW I realize that thing is a behemoth once it gets going! I'm watching my "sales" jump 10-17 books every minute I refresh the page. Who are the 17 people who downloaded my book last minute? How on earth are there 10 more doing it this minute?

Sorry. I'm now #28 in Kindle Free (which also includes apps). Oh, and #15 in Free Fiction. 12:36 AM.

So now I know I wasn't a speck before, I was a speck on a speck. Possibly even a speck on a speck on a speck.

How did I do this?

First of all, I, didn't. Others did. I was listed on The-Cheap.net's Kindle streams, Pixel of Ink's Facebook streams, a few Chicklit blogs and Facebook streams, and who knows where else. I don't even know. I didn't plan ANY OF THIS. I put out on Facebook last night I was going free, talked with a few readers who got a signed ebook last month, and set up my tweets to tweet my book link as free once per hour from 4 AM to 11 AM.

The tweets helped get the ball rolling, but it was mostly other authors tweeting me. Having the tweets scheduled helped authors just click and RT. That certainly helped, but it's not where the lion's share came from....

When Readers Take It Personally

Reading is a very personal act. What we like, what we don't like reflects who we are as a person. Books we like we want to brag about. THIS is what catapulted me to the top.

I know you all have heard, probably a little too much, how I signed ebooks for readers. I know. However, it was two readers who received early copies, and NOOK owners mind you, that took it as a personal mission to make me a best-downloaded Kindle author in one day. How personal?

They sent me personal messages on Facebook of status reports all day long--messages telling me where they posted the links, who they told, who they got to share the link, and updated ME on my rankings. Seriously. I ended up with an army and I thought this was just a drill! I need to share something here for authors, and please don't go to Facebook and go after the two readers who helped me (a few have already tried). They aren't master marketers or even interested in marketing other books, they just wanted to help me because they cared about my book (not saying they won't care about your book, they have to read it first, and they aren't interested in being professional bloggers or reviewers, they're happy being readers).

So here's what you will all find fascinating. One of the readers took charge and informed me that she talked to the admin at Pixel of Ink and got permission to share my book on their Facebook wall. I chuckled and said "You did what? How? Do you have any idea what that means?" Of course she thought I meant she had stepped on toes. I had to reassure her, no, I was just shocked. THERE'S A WAITING LIST FOR PIXEL OF INK.... if you're an author, or if you know someone. If you're an author, you have to submit first (totally understand, agree 100% with that system, it's self-promotion). But readers truly have the power to walk right up that bouncer and say "Can I get in the club" and the velvet rope just unclicks in a split second.

I could sit here and say maybe I underestimated my own goodwill with others, maybe this would have happened if I had gone free last week. I don't think so. Certainly being someone few dislike in this industry helps, but I don't think it was me. I really think a handful of readers that wanted to see the book they enjoyed get "kudos" they thought it deserved is what happened January 30, 2012. It wasn't about me. It was about them. It was about social networking at it's most basic function, "Look at me, I like this, it's wonderful, therefore I'm wonderful." And I'm not saying that to belittle those readers who supported me. Not at all. I'd give them a kidney if they needed it! I'm saying that all of the broadcasting, tweeting, poking, prodding, begging, and and pleading isn't what propelled my book. It was a few people who wanted their network of friends to see that they had a book they liked, and they were going to make it a success. And I am 100% amazed at their magical abilities!

I think having a strong cover helped, and having a high overall rating caught people's attention as my book was free. But the real catalyst that caused this chain reaction was that I happened to make reading special for a few readers. Maybe through my writing, maybe through my personality, maybe both! I don't know exactly what I did, but I'm going to keep doing it!

There's 2 hours left in the promo. I've had such fun today. I've been truly touched at how many people came out of the woodwork to support me, some authors I haven't had a chance to pow-wow with in months! I can feel in my gut this is a big turning point for me as an author. This changes my perspective on many, many issues. I feel wiser. I feel more aware of my little role in this great big publishing machine.

I don't know if I'm ready mentally to read all of the reviews that will come in. I don't know if I'm morally ready to look at the sales that are going to come as my book falls back down the charts. I do know I'm ready to write that next book and get it into the hands it belongs in. A reader's.

Going Free KDP Select

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Ann West) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:34:00 +0000

I was ranked #222,100 last night when I went to bed. I had sold 6 copies of CANCELLED this month.

This morning, I woke up 6 AM and I had 250 downloads. By 7:15, it was 300. At 7:54 AM I made it to 402 downloads. And now it's 8:33 AM and I'm at 544 downloads.

8:35 AM, 550 downloads.

At 7:30 Am I was ranked 11,309 in Free Kindle.

I will update as the day continues.

UPDATE:
As of 12:45 PM EST. 1600 downloads.

#16 on the contemporary fiction charts (yes, I'm beating the free sample of James Patterson!)

I couldn't have done this without all of my friends and other authors helping tweet the book out. I can not believe it! We'll see how fast I sink like a stone, but I'm a Best-downloading author (not quite bestselling yet, but one day).

#ROW80 Excited to Write Again

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Ann West) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 02:10:00 +0000

First off, I took the plunge. CANCELLED is temporarily exclusive to Amazon as part of the KDP Select Program. I am going FREE 2/10 and 2/11, just in time for a great romantic weekend read, love from HIS point of view.

I will go free again April 1, 2012. That's when Kindle will get STONE. But wait, isn't STONE coming out in March? Yep. Only on Nook. That's right. I love BOTH of my children, lol.

I will definitely need help getting the word out from my friends when I go free. And if anyone else is going free before then, let me know. I will gladly Tweet my heart out.

SIGNED EBOOKS
I have handwritten all 150 notes and scanned them into the computer. At the time I am writing this last night, I am up 90 of them cropped to the correct size. Today I will make all of the ebooks and send them out. Monkey off my back. But I AM loving the reader response.

STONE
I am not quite on time word count wise. But I have a kick-ass outline that is 5 pages and scribbled on in every nook and cranny. :) Besides, I finished Chapter 1 and got it off to a few Omega Reader eyes. Good news is the flavor is there, they want to read more. Only 10 more Chapters to write and STONE is done. Yes, it's 11 Chapters long. I really like this novella format. Cancelled is often described as "packing a punch" and a "quick enjoyable read." Well, STONE packs a 12 gauge.

My story question is: Can Melanie Stone let her mother back into her life and kick out the creep trying to worm his way in?

One liner: A single mom with a Joan Jett attitude kicks a creep out of her life. With a shotgun.
AND a teaser:
There's NO TRESPASSING in Melanie Stone's life.

Long description:

A single mom for her son's entire seven years of life, Melanie Stone has done just fine on her own, thank you very much. But her recently retired mother has other plans, friends know what's best for her career, and a first date in years turns out to be a complete psycho! Melanie's carefully crafted life is slipping through her fingers and she's ready for people to start listening. Even if takes pulling a 12-gauge shotgun for her to be heard, there's NO TRESPASSING in Melanie Stone's life.

Can Melanie Stone let her mother back into her life and kick out the creep who has wormed his way in? Find out in STONE.

And this is probably my favorite part of the story... my dedication. You see STONE touches on the way abusive relationships develop, inch by controlling inch.

Dedication:

Physical and emotional abuse is a very serious issue and today's modern relationships are not immune. Abusive situations don't usually occur all at once, it's a gradual slide into completely unacceptable behavior. By keeping everyone aware of the warning signs, we can help stop the vicious cycles from ripping apart more families.

STONE is for every man and woman who has said, “No. I will not be treated this way.” I am astounded by your courage, and thankful you defied the statistics. And for the abusers who get help to break the cycle before it comes to charges, I am proud of you, too.

Finally, to the two people in my life that protected themselves when they had to, you are my heroines. I love you both very, very much.

WEDNESDAY:
Stay tuned for Wednesday as I hope to have a complete signup for my ebook cruise in March. It's a special event blog site I'm creating where authors are going to highlight their books' settings as a "virtual cruise" for readers. There will be interactive activities and best of all, partnerships with some great reader blogs.

KDP Select Analysis REDUX

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Ann West) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:01:00 +0000

Regular followers of this blog know I have 0 problems admitting when I was wrong. This is another one of those posts. Maybe not so much as wrong, but re-evaluating my thinking as the data has come in. And no, it's not the line of thinking you might anticipate.

My gut reaction to KDP Select back when the monkey wrench was thrown into the publishing world was that I was firmly on the fence and therefore erring on the caution. I am changing that position.

First, my next book, STONE, a novella, is coming out in March. Also, my POD of CANCELLED was picked up by Barnes and Noble and is the first result when someone searches Cancelled on BN.com. It doesn't link to my Nook book at all, as the publishers are different.

The plan:
I am going to announce in mid-February that Cancelled is coming off the Nook site temporarily on March 17th, but will be back at the end of June. Meanwhile, the print version of Cancelled will remain available on Barnes and Noble and lower the price of the print version as low as I can (I should be able to get it down to about $7.90-$8.95 depending on if BN keeps giving a $1 off like it is right now). I will be 100% upfront about it, and let my Nook fans know that this is just a promotion I am trying out.

However, STONE will release on all channels on release day, both Kindle and Nook. So I'm giving Nook readers a heads up that if they want to get Cancelled, do so before the middle of March, and I'm making sure my new release goes out to everyone at the same time. This way I'm not playing favorites.

I will make Cancelled free for two days when STONE comes out, again after Mother's Day, and finally at the end of the 90 days exclusivity with PAST DUE comes out in June. This way I maximize the "exclusivity" requirement to its fullest extent.

After this, I will have all books available on all channels for awhile. SERVED comes out in September and I will probably put CANCELLED on sale for $.99 for 30 days in celebration of that release.

If this experiment goes well, and depending on if I lose the reviews I have for Cancelled on Nook by moving it to off sale on BN, but I don't think I will, I will consider putting either STONE or PAST DUE into KDP Select for Christmas time. I think it will be PAST DUE as the sequel to that is scheduled for March, so I could do the same kind of thing, make PAST DUE free around the time of the release of the sequel.

All of my ebook files will be modified to advertise the other books as books come out.

So that's the plan. Feel free to weigh in and I'd love to hear what other authors think. I think there is no denying that using the free days on KDP Select bumps you up, and I want to do that when I have more than one book available for readers to read. The twist here is that the assumption has been we have to put our new releases on Kindle first, and I'm working around that. Worst thing I lose is the 4 reviews I have on Barnes and Noble at the moment.

So here's the goal, and I have to make it here before any of the above can happen. One step at a time.

#ROW80 Back in the Saddle

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Ann West) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 05:50:00 +0000

So after an ambitious To Conquer list earlier today, I thought a quick recap of what I accomplished might be helpful. You see, this blog is for other authors, but I also use it to chronicle my journey. If I'm ever uninspired, all I have to do is read a few early posts and see how far I've come. I just have very far still to go.

First, I AM BACK IN THE SADDLE!

STONE is outlined, with dates and times, and the storylines are strong. I began writing on it again tonight and the main character shared something I didn't know. Well, I knew she was estranged from her biological father, and that he's going to give her a significant amount of money for her birthday that her and her mother are collectively unhappy about. What I didn't know was WHY the father felt guilty enough to overkill his adult daughter's birthday.

And then I put my main character, Melanie Stone in a hospital and she wigged the f* out in the waiting room. Memories of spiral fracture and bruises.

I had no idea. And I feel a little looney tunes saying that I feel sickened that my fictional father figure in my story could hurt his little girl like that. To me, these people are real. Well, as real as memories of people I know in real life could be (no, these characters are not based on real life people, though).

I can see now this story is going to be hard, but it has to be told. On top of the subject matter (which was always going to be somewhat heavy given that she has a manipulative, controlling creep she has to kick out of her life), the schedule is rough. I want to finish the rough draft of about 50,000 words in 28 days. I know!

But, one of the mistakes I made with my last book was NOT believing in myself to make a deadline. Yes, I missed my deadline for the first draft, but that was more because I knew I HAD ample padding in the timeline before publishing. I beat my publishing date by almost 2 weeks. And that first draft deadline? I jammed out 18,000 words in four days to kill it.

To be clear, I am not sacrificing quality for quantity. I AM ramping up my production to match my personal skill set, including professional procrastinator. You see, I have enormous front end time. Some authors just GO and see where the story takes them. I can't. I can't write more than a couple thousand words before I have to pause and plan everything out. I have 5 pages of outline and notes for STONE, down to bits of dialogue. I have a very strong non-fiction background. I am your "Have outline, will write" girl. Even if the outline is just 2-3 ideas, I ALWAYS pre-write.

Now, do I know everything? Not quite. The above example is a great illustration. You see, as I was outlining, I put in "Stone's birthday, Dad gives her $500" and then I bring it up in a scene later on when Stone and her mother have lunch. I KNEW it was important, that Dad felt guilty about something. I didn't think it was sexual abuse, originally I thought it was being a child-support dead beat. But that didn't quite fit either, so I didn't write it down (err. type, I type my notes). It wasn't until I put Melanie at the hospital in the fourth scene of the book that I instantly knew she wan't okay. She was agitated. It's almost like if I could feel a ghost presence, that's how it felt.

Next thing I knew, it was "what are those particular types of fractures that mean child abuse?" Looked it up, saw a picture, and ugh. Killed me as a mom.

So, what did get done today? Well, I signed 20 more notes. I have 24 scanned and cropped. I need to scan in 20 more and crop them. Then I can make the 44 ebooks and send them out. That will bring me to 92 ebooks total signed and delivered. Only 57 more to go (assuming no one else signs up for my newsletter in January). In the future, I'm going to still sign ebooks, but only on certain days I think.

I wrote 1400 words on STONE. The total now sits at nearly 5K.

And that's where things are and I am going to bed. :)

#ROW80 Just Keep Swimmin'

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Ann West) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:37:00 +0000

Not every race has a great start.

I've stumbled a little out of the starting block, but I'm getting my stride. This week:

Featured on 3 different blogs as part of my ebook signing tour. In all Honesty (about how honesty and frankness make you vulnerable, but be honest anyway) on Words from the Heart, A fun piece on My Mess in Texas about the first time I met my inlaws (you'll laugh) on Going Crazy, Wanna Go?, and another humor piece on Zen Cherry about I Need the Royalties to Pay My Parents Back (for all stuff I destroyed as a kid).
Finished outline for STONE completely. Only have 2,500 words though written. Tick tock, March is coming soon.
Formatted an ebook and have two more orders in next two weeks.
Wrote and scanned 20 handwritten notes for my signed ebooks. Only 60+ more to go. Need to put those ebooks together today and send them out.
Made trailer for CANCELLED. It's so much fun!

In my personal life, we are potty training my two-and-a-half year old. I have a timer set for every 20 minutes to get her on the potty. I have no earthly idea how I'm going to write around that, but I'm gonna! :) It just might have to be blitzkrieg #wordmongering = ten minutes writing, ten minutes off.

To conquer list for today:

I need to send out the 24 ebooks I have hand written notes for
I need to send out my newsletter today, apologizing for the delay in getting the signed ebook to everyone and have a link to a free download of CANCELLED while they wait.
Write the tech article for my newsletter (I think I'm going to cover free office productivity software, sideloading to the Kindle using the whispernet email addy, and how on Nook, when you gift a book to a friend, if they aren't jazzed about it, they can convert it to a Nook gift card for same amount of money)
Get 4,000 words written on STONE
Write blog post for the LAST STOP on my blog tour

Good thing I cleaned my house yesterday! LOL.

A robotics engineer asks his business partner to marry him, but a previous one-night stand is having his baby. CANCELLED is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords. WIP: SERVED Two never married parents fight over their toddler's upbringing and moving on with their lives, without each other;(status: outlining)

PLEASE LEAVE COMMENT LOVE TO MY OTHER #ROW80 FRIENDS. WE ARE AUTHORS WORKING HARD ON OUR GOALS FOR 80 DAYS AND LIFTING EACH OTHER UP ALONG THE WAY!!!

Hire Melissa Oyler For Your Cover Art

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Ann West) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 04:03:00 +0000

There are people you run into in the writing industry that really make this career a joy. My cover artist, Melissa Oyler is one such person. Her pricing is VERY affordable, and I don't say that to mean she's cheap or a good "alternative" to use. I say that upfront because I know as an indie author, every penny counts. Melissa also works with authors for a payment plan, too. For my first cover, CANCELLED, which had custom design elements AND photography, I paid in three installments.

So now that you know you can afford her, here's why you must hire her: she is experimental, creative with an eye towards sales, and fun to work with. It isn't easy to design a cover that translates well large or small, looks fabulous in black and white, and gets a reader to click on the link. And she LISTENS to you, but won't steer you wrong. At one point, I wanted cell phones on my covers to show how "modern" they are. She rightly pointed out what happens in 10 years when we're receiving calls on chips in our heads? Ugh, it'd make my covers like a bad 80s or early 90s movie! Here's how working with Melissa Oyler looks like.

I sent her this:

This is my attempt as a hand made cover with free stock photography. Hey, look, I managed to change the border around the image to look kinda like a stone tile (I added a bevel). I get points for that, right?

I get back this:

It looks like a movie poster to me! It's beautiful. It makes me want to know more. That is one VERY intriguing cherry, and the image is a stark contrast to the title (and a play on the way cherries are called stones, soft of the outside, hard as a rock on the inside). Symbolism is who I am. I have 4 tattoos, all symbols. I have a compass with a W (for my last name), a fleur-de-lis, a Tudor Rose, and an hour glass.

I will be honest, I honestly thought for a novella, I could do a little graphics magic. I am put to shame. I know which cover looks like a "self-published" author to me, and which one looks like a "professionally published" title.

But feel free to weigh in.

BTW, Melissa sent me more than 8 different variations to choose from, and there was a hard choice between this cover and another equally fabulous one. I'd share it, BUT, there is a good chance elements of that cover will be used on a future project, and I can't ruin THAT surprise.

STONE: Coming March 2012.

RUN, do not walk to Melissa's website: melissaoyler.com/contact And if you need another reason to hire Melissa? I always get my proofs early. :) And I do not receive a kick back or anything for business I send to her. But I am selfish enough that I have a ten year career planned. I need help keeping my cover artist employed and available that whole time, please. :)

#ROW80 Better LATE than Never

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Ann West) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:44:00 +0000

Jumping in two weeks late... BUT now I have some goals. I missed the last round :( and the round before that I edited and published a novel (WIN!) and basically now I have an idea of where I want my publishing career to go I'm back! With an awesome plan.

I cemented my 2012 publishing schedule this weekend.

March 2012 STONE (a novella about a kick-ass single Mom with a Joan Jett attitude who throws a creepy controlling guy out of her life with the point of a shotgun)

June 2012 PAST DUE (a 3 episode novella about Jill and how her life is worth a negative $80,000 which she's going fix by making an even half-million of debt!

September 2012 SERVED (sequel to CANCELLED. Two never married parents fight over their toddler's upbringing and being in love, not with each other.)

December 2012 POISON (short story for WG2E anthology Martini Madness).

First, I had to calculate what is it going to take to write all of these words? Surprisingly not a lot. 8,000 words per week and I'll be done with all by July. That's 8-10 writing hours per week.

Next, I had to check in with my cover artist, the wonderful Melissa Oyler. Her response was "Let's GO!" She is an amazing, full-service cover artist. Her background is graphic design, which is important to me. Want to know how above and beyond she went for CANCELLED? Read how the process went from conception to cover and every single step of the way she worked WITH me, never for me. We have a team type relationship and I never felt like just another client. Hire her. You will get the cover you 100% want at a price you can afford. And probably a friend, too!

So March 22, 2012?

Alright here we go:

January 25: 8,000 words fiction. 3 blog posts (tech talk, one on reader site, one on author site), twitter fun.
February 1: 8,000 words fiction. 3 blog posts
February 8: 8,000 words fiction. 3 blog posts STONE done
February 15: 8,000 words on PAST DUE, 3 blog posts
February 22: 8,000 words on PAST DUE, 3 blog posts, Editing run on STONE
February 29: 8,000 words on PAST DUE, 3 blog posts, Polish STONE
March 5: Get STONE to Omega Readers.
March 7: 8,000 words on PAST DUE, 3 blog posts
March 14: 8,000 words on PAST DUE, STONE goes live (3/13)
March 18: 8,000 words on PAST DUE, celebrate being a twice published author!!!

March 25th, turn 30. :)

A robotics engineer asks his business partner to marry him, but a previous one-night stand is having his baby. CANCELLED is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords. WIP: SERVED Two never married parents fight over their toddler's upbringing and moving on with their lives, without each other;(status: outlining)

DON'T MISS MY OTHER #ROW80 FRIENDS AND THEIR GREAT JOURNEYS TO ROCKING THE WORLD WITH THEIR WRITING!!!! PLEASE VISIT AND LEAVE SOME LOVE!

Am I an Author or a Writer?

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Ann West) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 05:34:00 +0000

Dean Wesley Smith is very generous in sharing his years of experience and what he's experiencing in the brave new world of publishing. One of his recent posts is

The New World of Publishing: Investing in Your Own Future

And it begs a very good question: Am I an Author or a Writer?

I'm a little of both.

DWS's definitions hinge on the approach to readers. An author uses marketing to reach readers while writers just churn out story after story to reach readers. Usually, I find Dean Wesley Smith's advice to be spot on, but I propose a happy medium for anyone like me, in the middle of the Venn Diagram.

My Author Side

I only have one book. I'm working on three more stories, including the sequel and two shorter pieces. But my process is very odd. I like to outline. I like to draft out story arcs for each character (even the minor ones) and then I do a rough table of scenes. Then, I plot them on a calendar (so if it's a Tuesday, I know it's a Tuesday). This is the non-fiction writer in me making it work for fiction. :)

I have a goal of 15 novels in 10 years (I anticipate getting faster as I write more and more as that is what happened when I wrote non-fiction articles). 15 novels selling an average of 100 copies at roughly a $2.50 royalty is $3,750 a month. That's a great income for getting to stay home with my kids.

But I enjoy marketing. The same creativity that goes into my stories goes into my guest blog posts and my recent experiment with signing ebooks has been p-h-e-n-o-m-e-n-a-l in getting to know my readers. A recent review on Amazon is a from a reader who felt moved to write a review because she loved my characters so much, and she hasn't done so since reading Nora Roberts in the 1980s. THE NORA ROBERTS!!!!

My Writer Side

I don't really want a super-duper best seller, runaway hit. I'm already feeling incredible pressure just from the few rave reviews I'm getting on CANCELLED. A few comments from readers want to know more about Kellie and Johnathan together (but they don't end up together, that was NEVER the plan). But what happens if I carry through with that plan? Kellie never grows up because she never really had to. I now have to make damn sure I demonstrate that so I don't get a reader revolt!

Anyway, I'm not going to ever make $3,750 a month on one book alone. That's ridiculous. My writing experience is still 1 year writing fiction, 4 years writing non-fiction articles. I know firsthand the bigger your portfolio, the more buyers buy. So while I like the idea of continually writing, I think a new work every 2-3 months is more realistic for me, and that's FAR above my original plans. This way I can take a month or so to market and enjoy my job.

Here's my 2012 Publication Schedule (yes, I mapped ALL of this out in a spreadsheet). These are working titles and might change.

March 2012 - Short Story STONE ($1.99 about 15,000 words)

June 2012 - Novella PAST DUE Episodes 1-3 ($2.99 about 50,000 words)

September - Novel SERVED ($3.99 about 80,000 words)

December - Short Story WHAT'S YOUR DRINK? ($.99 about 8,000-10,000 words, part of the WG2E anthology Martini Madness)

If I make super duper bonus time, I will also write the conclusion to Jill's story, PAST DUE Episodes 4-6 in the summer and publish them right in November.

My goal is 8,000 words per week which is 8-10 hours of writing time for me. That's fingers to the keys #wordmongering (I write 750-1,000 words in 30 minutes). I'm taking 1 hour per day to market, and Mondays and Thursdays are for my publishing work on formatting ebooks etc. Yes, I will be writing on the weekend no more than half of my total word count for the week.

2013?

March 2013 - College Craziness (new series similar to Past Due) $2.99 about 50,000 words

June 2013 - Break, finish writing MERGED, last in Red Ink Collection, polish all for boxed set prep

September 2013- MERGED, and Box set ($3.99 and $9.99 respectively)

December 2013 - Angel short story that was almost my first novel

2014?

March 2014 - College Craziness vol 2 $2.99 about 50,000, box set $4.99

June 2014 - Johnny Rebel story, a short twist on ghost story $1.99 about 15,000 words

September 2014 - New Novel series not so epic fantasy sci-fi fun :) $4.99 about 100,000 words

December 2014 - Military Misery short story $1.99 about 12,000 words.

There is a co-writing novel in 2012 which will probably bump the second part of Jill's story to 2013 (that's OK). I feel a million times better with a plan under my belt. I may not be producing something new every 2 weeks, but every 3 months is doable for me. My first gig is Mom.

Now money wise, it's a bit complicated......
I assumed an average of 10 books per title selling until June 2012. That's roughly $35.00 per month until PAST DUE comes out. Then I assumed 20 books per title selling, roughly $100 per month. ***

*** This is the AVERAGE, and therefore rough. I could sell 18 copies of STONE when it comes out in March for $13.50 and 2 copies of CANCELLED for total royalties of $18. OR, I could sell 5 copies of STONE and 15 copies of CANCELLED for $44. Both are an average of 10 books per title.

By the time I have a novel, short story, and a novella length work out in June, I hope to sell an average of 20 per title each month. That's June. September is when the sequel to CANCELLED comes out, and that's when I hope the long tail helps boost my average to 30 books per title sold a month, or a total of 120 books over 4 titles.

Grand total I'd like to make $250-$300 in royalties on all of my titles by December.

One way I intend to help my long-tail sales is with my newsletter and marketing events with other authors and bloggers. My ebook signing is so popular, and given my publication schedule, I will probably do an event in February where over 3 days, if you sign up for my newsletter you get a signed copy of CANCELLED with a special sneak peek at the STONE and SERVED. That way, when STONE comes out in March, I've added more names to the newsletter, readers know me, and they will want the short story.

So my plan is to write AND market, because I love to do both!

Oh, and that publishing plan through 2014?

By March 2013, if I can average 50 sales per my 6 titles, I will clear more than $500 per month.

By December 2013, if I can average 100 sales per my 9 titles, I will clear more than $2,000 per month.

December 2014 should be 12 titles plus 4 boxed sets (one for Red Ink, one for PAST DUE, one for College Craziness, and one for my short stories) I should clear more than $3,500 in a month. That's selling a total of 1600 copies across 16 titles.

And I'll call myself a Writer/Author. :)

Signing Ebooks Experiment

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Ann West) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:58:00 +0000

"Hello, I'm author Elizabeth Ann West. Would you like a signed copy of my ebook?"

I was scared. I began my first EVER blog tour with something different and I worried if I was going to come across as that annoying Avon lady with free samples of Skin-So-Soft. Ding-dong! Knock, knock, knock. Would you like my free ebook?

For many authors who are just starting out, we hear all the time how wonderful a "free" sale is. Many great indie authors have been very successful in giving away a title for free to sell the other titles in their portfolio.... for a brand new author with one title giving away free books that readers will read is a Herculean task.

Oh, you'll get the readers that will download anything that's free. But how can you entice them to read it?

One solution is the "Make it harder to get for free." Give them hoops. We see giveaways and contests all the time that say "Like me on Facebook, join my newsletter, Tweet 3 of the 5 tweets below 3 times a day for two days, leave a comment below, add this link here, and stand in the moonlight and shout my name with gusto..." and one of you will win a free book! (Okay, I'm exaggerating a little, but I've seriously seen giveaways with 5 steps to enter. FIVE!). The idea is that if it's really hard to win the free book, it will be valuable and the reader will want to read it.

Unfortunately, that solution kills the original intent of giving away free books. Or at least my intent. My intent was "How can I get my book into the hands of readers who are interested in it for free so that they read it, and if they like it, want to tell others about it?"

My answer came back to customer service. I needed to figure out a way to "touch" the reader. And my solution has in turn touched me in so many ways. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

I AM GIVING AWAY FREE, SIGNED EBOOKS.

How do I sign them?

This takes a few computer savvy skills. First, you need a scanner. Second, you need the ability to make your own ebooks. I use Sigil and Jutoh to make epub and mobi, respectively. The Kindle files take longer on my netbook, about 7-10 minutes to compile.

The Procedure:

Write out a handwritten note to the reader.
Scan note into computer.
Crop the notes to remove background, scale down to 400 x 600 in graphic editing software (I use the free GIMP)
Open your ebook making software, insert document called Signing or Dedication directly after your cover.
Copy and paste the jpg image of note into the ebook file int he Signing or Dedication section. Save for epub, compile for mobi.

Results in an ebook where after the reader turns the first page, there is a handwritten inscription to them, just like a printed book signed at a book store.

WHERE DO I SEND IT? WHAT FORMAT?

On my first blog tour stop, we just had readers leave a comment on the blog with the format they needed and an email address. This was a hot mess. Very few readers remembered to include all of the information I needed to sign them an ebook in the correct format and deliver it. And once a reader enters and walks away, how many come back to check? (The posting is here, one of my #ROW80 buddies, Tia Bach hosted me on Depression Cookies and gave me a 5-star review on her other blog, Mom in Love with Fiction)

Together, Tia and I sorted it out but it involved a flurry of emails back and forth to get all 10 ebooks out. My goal for my blog tour is not to inconvenience the blogger, but to give them a day off. I needed a new plan, and quickly. My original destination fell through for January 4 and I asked my friends at The-Cheap.net to host me at the last minute so I didn't lose a stop. This generosity on their part to host me, and at the last minute even, was a HUGE, HUGE gift.

MAIL CHIMP

Anyone hear get a newsletter? Yep. But who signs up for newsletters? Well, I can tell you not one person ever signed up for my newsletter as part of my old reader site, before it crashed. I even gave the link the top right spot in the side bar. No clicks.

Out of desperation, because I anticipated that on The-Cheap.net I'd get about 30 requests for ebooks, and 30 email addresses in the comments would have been an absolute nightmare, I signed up for Mail Chimp. In a few hours, I had the gist of their interface (it's free up to 500 subscribers) and made a sign up form. I added two unique fields: Preferred Ebook Format and Have you read any of the Elizabeth's Books?. I copied and pasted the HTML of the form to http://eawestwriting.com/newsletter. This way, I would know which format the reader needs, and which kind of links to send them in a newsletter, AND if they are a new reader or not. This is the blog post I wrote about how powerful reader reviews are. The reader comments are VERY valuable for any author!

I anticipated 30, right? 114. That's how many readers have asked for a signed copy of CANCELLED by signing up for my newsletter. I've sent 10 so far (had a detour to the Emergency Room one night this week and a toddler with stitches in her lip convalescing), and written and scanned 40. I have a busy weekend ahead of me! 74 more to go!

But the readers are leaving comments, saying thank you for getting a signed copy. I'm getting emails from them. It's just like sitting at a table in Barnes and Noble (and maybe one day I'll drag a little portable scanner there and sign ebooks for the Nook in person!) and no way would I as a nobody author get over 100 people asking me for my signature on their book.

And it's a great opportunity for me. I'm really learning who my readers are. I'm wondering about every Kristi, Sue, and Sandy that I'm writing a note to. It's difficult writing a note to someone you don't know, but I'm taking the time to make each one a little different. I don't know if the all of the readers will realize that, but for me, it's important. I know when I send the signed ebook to them, it's special and unique, just for that reader.

The fact that my newsletter list is growing by leaps and bounds was an unintentional, but welcome side-effect. I'm so impressed, I will probably make one day each month a "Sign up for my newsletter and get a signed ebook." Yes, it takes time. But for me, it's time well spent.

Dear Elizabeth Last Year

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Ann West) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 01:05:00 +0000

Dear Elizabeth,

I'm you from 2012. This year, 2011, you're going to publish your first novel. I know what you're thinking, that we barely wrote well enough for approval at Twilighted.net, but have faith. You will succeed. But let me give you a little advice to help you before you get in too deep.

Be a Reader....Online

Now is the time to read ebooks and review them on Goodreads and maybe your own blog. I know you're afraid that by reading while you're writing, you might accidentally incorporate their ideas into your book. But that's simply not true. After all, how many hundreds of books have you read before today? Exactly. So read, and review. This will connect you with other readers and when YOUR book comes out, they will feel a connection with you and want to read it, too. Plus, they make great beta readers. Time? Make time. Make Fridays your reading day. We both know you can read a good novel in 3 hours. Aim for at least one per week.

Save up $500 in working capital

The book you're going to write will cost about $500 to produce once all is said and done. Cover art, ebook conversion software, writing books, website costs, and inexpensive marketing is going to run about $500. Be frugal, and learn everything you can. We both know we're not a graphic artist. Hire a great cover artist, like Melissa Oyler, and see if she can work with you. You never know until you ask.

#Wordmongering is your friend

We are major procrastinators. Why do now what you know you can squeeze out later? Right? So #wordmongering is your friend. Meet up with other authors at the :00 and write for 30 minutes. Celebrate your word count. Take a half hour off. Repeat. You write 750-1000 words every time to you do this (because you have a rockin' outline of scenes) and therefore it only takes 90-100 #wordmongering sessions to write your novel. (It's going to take you 5 months to write CANCELLED, but if you #wordmongered 2 sessions per day, you could finish in a month and a half... just sayin').

Be Careful Who You Team With

There are going to be many wolves in sheep's clothing that will love to use your time and talent, or even your money, and not deliver what's promised. You have a heart of gold and easily put other people before yourself. You did this when you were an Ombudsman, when you worked for Alcoa... it's the big sister in you. That's okay, but remember to put your OWN oxygen mask on before assisting others. Your writing must come first.

Everyone is Going to Love It

You're worried no one will like your book. Every writer feels that way, and this stops most of them dead in their tracks. But 99.9% of the time people are going to be impressed just that you wrote a novel. Because it's everyone's dream, and YOU made yours happen. Someone might eventually not like CANCELLED, but that doesn't mean they don't like you. They just couldn't relate to the story. After all, you don't like every book you've ever read but never felt negative feelings towards the author. Well, except for William Faulkner but that's more wrath against the closed minded students in your 11th grade honors English class. And that's okay, he's dead.

So hold your head up high, and keep on trucking. I expect even more from you in 2012, young lady.

Sincerely,
You, Monday, January 2, 2012.

EBOOK CRUISE 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Ann West) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 17:59:00 +0000

The Ebook Cruise is free! In a nutshell, it is bringing together bloggers (people who reach readers) and authors for a week of fun so readers buy new books. It's a virtual book fair, where your "table" is a link (or image linked). The Ebook Cruise will be March 12-19, 2012.

So, HOW do you join? Easy, email me at eawestwrites@gmail.com.

You can do ANYTHING for the book cruise, including if you have an idea outside of what I've listed below. The idea is the main page (http://eawestwriting.com/ebookcruise) transforms into an inviting, fun location for readers, and it is advertised by all of the authors and bloggers involved (think about just 10 authors with 1,000 Twitter followers each is 10,000 people seeing the promo, and I'm aiming for no less than 30 authors involved!).

The-cheap.net is on board to advertise the event on their multitude of sites that reach Kindle and Nook readers directly. On my last event, a simple one-time mention on The-Cheap.net brought over a 1,000 hits in just an hour or two. this time around, they are a valued partner. They are also doing a very cool giveaway. As soon as I have more authors and pages set up, I will query other book blogs to see if I can't get them to participate.

Specific ways to promote your book:

There will be a Souvenir Shop all books participating will be listed, by genre.

Write a blog post about the destination your book transports readers to OR a great book you read that transported you OR a travel story you have OR so on and so on. The goal is to write something interesting that's not just BUY MY BOOK. At the bottom of your post will be your short little bio piece and links for readers to buy your book. If they like what you have to say, they will at least click to get a sample. I will be tracking links, so I can let authors know how many times people clicked on a specifc link.

Sponsor an activity. There will be a flash fiction event every night for authors and readers. ("Convince me to visit your local hometown or favorite vacation spot in 300 words or less" "Fictionalize a horrible travel experience in 300 words or less" someone experienced with flash fiction can help with prompts :)) with all participants getting a free ebook gifted through either Nook or Amazon from the author(s) sponsoring. So on the night I'm hosting, I'm responding to the prompts, encouraging people, and gift them my book. Gifting books is a great sales tool because it's a one-on-one interaction with your reader. You are personally sending them a gift through email, and can later follow up. And the type of reader who would write flash fiction I bet would write a review if encouraged to do so! :)

MADLIB: I am writing madlibs and programming the computer to do these online. I've had some success already. :) A madlib is this:
NOUN: banana
VERB: shot
ADJECTIVE: purple
WAY TO TRAVEL: horse (the reader chooses these, then the computer plugs them into a story)

On my way to the banana, my car shot a stop sign and the cop wrote me a purple ticket. I sure hope I don't miss my horse!

They are funny ways to celebrate language and I'm hoping to program them in such a way that when the reader finishes it, it shows books advertised on the bottom.... thank GOD I have a programmer for a hsuband!

TWITTER CHAT: Throughout the week, there will be twitter chats with the hashtag #ebookcruise so people can mingle :) I had thought to do this in a dedicated chat room, but I think there's added value by using established social media channels. It gets the hosting author's name out there, and helps people learn twitter. So, pretend it's March 17th 2PM-3PM EST (7 to 8 PM in UK) and I"m the host:

EAWwrites

Welcome to #ebookcruise chat! Where was the most exciting place you've spent St. Patty's Day?

SomeTwitterPerson

NYC! 2005. I've never been more drunk in my life! #ebookcruise

EAWwrites

@Sometwitterperson UGH! Hopefully that'll be me one day, we just move to CT. But kids are a little young still! #ebookcruise

TwitterPerson2

St. patty's Day, what's that? I don't think we celebrate that here.... #ebookcruise

EAWwrites

@Twitterperson2 uh, I could see that. It's to celebrate St. Patrick, but mostly people get drunk and boast about any Irish heritage they have #ebookcruise

EAWwrites

@Twitterperson2 My Mom is Scotch-Irish, so I grew up with corned beef, potatoes, and cabbage every March 17th #ebookcruise

See, it gets people talking! And an author could talk about ANYTHING. It's a great way to get readers interested in YOU. There will be many opportunities to host a Twitter Chat, and authors can choose a time convenient for them!

OTHER WAYS Got more ideas? Tell me! I'm all ears. This about fun and getting readers JAZZED to read books.

So right now, if you want to be part of the ebook cruise at all, I need to know. The next few weeks I will have specific sign ups for everyone, a list of blog posts I need to link to etc. And the BEST part about this promotion? It will be "fresh" all year round because it's not tied to a specific holiday.

There are MANY sites out there that list great reads, great reviews of books. This is different because it is meant to be a virtual event, something people actively participate in. I can't wait for March!

Last Minute Gift Guide

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Ann West) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:52:00 +0000

Bit late throwing this together: but why not?

I have a reader site. I generally only post things that appeal to readers, so I'm going to put together a LAST MINUTE GIFT GUIDE by genre for readers. If you'd like me to include your book, please just give me the title and genre, I'll pull the link.

The post will go live tomorrow morning and we can all tweet it if we so desire.

I'm thinking along the lines of $5 and $10 book groups to gift, i.e.

For the "I Read EVERYTHING" Reader in your life:

Madness Under the Mistletoe $2.99
Saffina Desforges Presents (Kindle Coffee-Break) $2.99
(another anthology, touting 13 authors for only $6!)

Etc.

Playing the Blame Game on Sales

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Ann West) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 15:02:00 +0000

"I'm not getting sales. There must be something wrong."

After you publish, it's very EASY to become obsessed with your sales. Did you sell anything last night? What about this morning? Wait, it's been 5 minutes, maybe you sold a book now? GRRRR. And your browser even REMEMBERS the site. I type "pub" and it auto-fills pubit.barnesandnoble.com. Hey, Chrome, maybe I was going to search public library, or public transportation... did you think about that?

::hangs head in shame:: Okay, I wasn't. And when I type kdp there isn't any excuse, I am stalking my sales on Amazon. It's been officially 3 months since I published CANCELLED. pph82wqaaa1vdt6 (that's my two year old's contribution to the post, I'm going to leave it. It's probably some ancient code or something that if we could only decipher, we'd know the answer to everything. Besides 42.)

So 3 months. 25% of a year. 9 books sold on Smashwords. 26 sales on Nook. 82 sales on Amazon. 2 sales on Createspace. 90 days, 119 books sold (I've sold a few more on Amazon UK, but I don't have those numbers yet as I work through Mark Williams international Digital Publishing for those rights, but it's only about 3-5 more sales). I ran a month at $.99 and a month at $2.99. Sold about the same number of books running a promotion in each time period. I'm trying out a $4.99 price point.

I auto tweet my book and friends' books, and blog posts etc. I've taken a break for the last few days (mostly because I want to overhaul the spreadsheets I'm using and I haven't had time to do that yet). In the first week of December, I had over 900 clicks on my link directly to my Amazon purchase page. 1 sale.

When you're stalking your sales, it follows that you begin making assumptions about your efforts. This is a bad plan, because there are ALWAYS variables you can't account for. Did one of your readers tell two of her friends at a play date about your book so they bought it that morning, giving you two sales, but you think it's an ad you ran on a blog that morning? See? (this is also a tenet of Total Quality Management).

I shouldn't worry about CANCELLED. The reviews are positive. I love the book, and that's what I aimed for when I chose to write a romance novel for non-romance readers. I've made major professional inroads with other authors, including a number of best sellers, and top of the line book bloggers. I'm making a name for myself as that girl who likes technology and will try to answer your question. I write a weekly column on another blog about technology, every Sunday. And I'm finally working on my next book. Not talking about my next book, WRITING my next book. I'm still in that quasi-pants it-plot it mode, where I write a handful of scenes organically, then craft a semi-permeable outline, then buckle down and jam it out. SERVED currently has about 2,000 words to its name, but it's better than 0. I also am giving co-writing a novel a try early next year, and I'm very excited about that (can't say too much more, as I might be absolute rubbish at it and the book never sees the light of day with my name on it).

I'm focusing more on making my own marketing magic. I'm organizing a major blog hop in March, and I'm partnered up with a large Nook reader community to help them on a semi-monthly basis to make fun events for their thousands of readers. I have a virtual book signing in January. I owe a blog post to the wonderful Saffina Desforges for December 24th.

But I can't waste time playing the blame game with my sales figures. Yes, I had 900 clicks on my link, but it might have been 800 authors checking my ranking (I'm guilty of that myself). Or, it might have been 400 people clicking, liking what they saw, and downloaded a sample. Only they haven't had a chance to read it yet. Or they read it and it wasn't for them (probably sparing me a 1 or 2 star review had they just purchased it).

I'm just going to keep my head down and really focus on attaining that next level of authorhood: 2 books available for purchase!!!

Got Picture of My Book On a Nook Color And I Don't Even Own One (yet)

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Ann West) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 03:32:00 +0000

Today, I raised my prices on my eBook. There are a slew of reasons that I did this, but mostly, I've never been cozy and comfortable at either $0.99 or $2.99. In many ways, there is just too much competition at those price points (in my opinion) and I don't 100% ascribe to some of the marketing messages other authors put out there when they are tooting their low pricing. Since I am also an indie author AND had the same pricing, my book would have those messages reflected back no matter what.

Pricing is another post. While I was checking to see if my new price had populated to Barnes and Noble, I stumbled on something completely cool. I typed in my book's title in the search bar, and just above the listing was an advertisement for Nooks with MY BOOK in the front! How cool is that? I'm on Mark Williams international Digital Publishing this week with a tech posting just about images and how they work. So consider this a more advanced topic guide. :)

I've tested a few titles, and the site is doing this for all Nook books. I grabbed a screenshot, edited out the surrounding web page stuff (used GIMP to select a square, then cropped to selection), and voila, I now have a photo of my book on the front of a brand new Nook tablet. I did also sharpen the image a bit as the resolution wasn't the greatest.

I've checked the Terms and Conditions of PubIt and can't find anywhere it says I can't highlight the ways Nook is marketing my book. It DOES say that BN has complete discretion to market my book any way that it sees fit, but is not required to do any marketing. Plus, as long as I'm using it to advertise my book listing on Nook, I doubt there will be any issue. Alternatively, I can go in and crop just around the Nook with my book on it, which is probably what I will do next.

If you don't have a Nook Color Tablet yet and you want to get a promotional image of your book on one, this is an easy way to do so!

Why I'm On the Fence About KDP Select

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Ann West) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 18:08:00 +0000

There are a number of issues with the KDP Select Lending Program that I'm nervous about. I will happily sit on the fence until I see how things shake down. Here's a few of my issues:

How the amounts are calculated...

The example given in the KDP FAQ are very generous. Only 100,000 monthly book borrowed? Only? So out of everyone with a Prime Membership, only 100,000 people will borrow a book? Sure, no problem. We'll go with it.

Then, you get a percentage of the pool of money based on the percentage of downloads you had. That math sounds amazing, as a month with fewer downloads total means you get paid MORE money. Does this make sense? Does it really make sense that Amazon is going to promote and support a program as it dwindles with $500,000 every month? What happens when only 50,000 Prime members download a book, effectively doubling the royalty paid on each download? Flip side, as the program gets more and more readers participating, you get less money per download. They're committing to investing $6 million into the royalty share pool. I'm sure more and more readers will borrow the more expensive, top titles, just like those books are the same ones always with a waiting list at your local library.

I'm concerned about the program's influence on public libraries, many of which are just now going to digital content lending. I don't like the idea of libraries having to pay authors royalties on the content they give out. I firmly believe that public libraries are a strong part of a people's culture, and that information should be available despite economic status. I don't want to see a return of commercial libraries where people pay a membership.

Second issue I have is with the likelihood that my book will be borrowed. My book is $2.99. Remember, a reader can ONLY borrow 1 book per month, or 12 books per year. I already have a hard enough time convincing readers to buy my novel instead of the three to four times more expensive NY Times Bestsellers. How am I going to convince a reader to download my cheaper title for their one book they are allowed per month when I can't even convince them to pay $3.00 for it, which they are saving by borrowing the NY Times Bestseller for free?

The exclusivity clause and allowed to make my book free for 5 days out of every 90 days also troubles me. There is already a mechanism to make your book free on Amazon with price matching. Will there be a crackdown now on authors who use this system to make their book free on Amazon? Will KDP Select, meaning your book now must be exclusive to Amazon, be the only way you can offer it for free?

In the end, I will probably not enroll my novels in KDP Select Lending. I am considering including a short story or two, that I am working on now for publication early next year. They were going to be free or $.99 anyway. I get about 30% of my total sales from B&N, and I sell my book on my personal website. I'm not giving up 30% of my income for an Amazon exclusive program....

Besides, did anyone notice that Barnes and Noble now has an indie book store?

**** I'm not the only author waiting to see how this plays out. Another thoughtful post from author Jessica Dragon Cheramie.

Writing Business: Getting Back on Track for 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Ann West) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 13:45:00 +0000

I use many water references on this blog, I'm realizing. Then again, I've lived nearly my entire life on the East Coast next to a port. My father was in the Navy and my husband is also in the middle of a naval career. But to be clear, I love to be on the water, or near the water, not so big on IN the water (I can't coordinate my breathing well enough to swim underwater).

That aside, this picture really captures how I'm feeling right now about my writing career. There's two sides to a writing career I feel - the constant, disciplined side represented by the continual waves, and the exciting, breath-taking spurts and bursts of wonderfulness.

The bursts of power and recognition come when you get that 5-star review, or wake up and see you sold 5 books while you were sleeping, instead of just one. They are thrilling, but also have a dark side. They can raise unreasonable expectations, create deep lows that make it difficult to feel motivated to work, and really make you crazy as you try to sustain the effort you perceived made it happen.

For the last two months, I was mesmerized by the spurts and bursts in my sales figures. You see, I've improved my sales every single month since I released CANCELLED in September. But lost track of the discipline that allowed the book to be written. Since 9/13/2011, I've written maybe, maybe 1,000 words on any of my new projects. But I've written thousands and thousands of words for blog posts, interviews, tweets, and other marketing endeavors. Next month, I am running a virtual book signing tour (details to be released soon), and I think that will be the end of my concentrated focus for marketing CANCELLED. After January, and four months of living in the sun, it will be time to let my other projects take the limelight.

My mother-in-law really helped me realize just how lost I was... I mentioned to her how I had sold over 100 copies of CANCELLED and this is what she said: "That's great, but we're not proud of you for how many books you sell. We're proud of you that you wrote a book." It took a few days of these words swirling in my brain for it to really dawn on me. Even I'm not really that impressed with other people's sales numbers. I'm not. I'm more impressed with their portfolio of writing. And no one writes novels in a sudden burst (at least not that I know about), they write them with the other side of water; the constant discipline represented by the waves.

I have to use two strategies to keep my wayward focus in line.

1) Never have enough time.

I wrote CANCELLED in 30 minute increments with an 18-month-old under foot, after I had my complete outline drafted. She's now 2.5 years old. I work best under some type of pressure. Nothing insane, but I don't do very well when I don't have a jam packed schedule. When I only had 30 minutes to write, I used every one of them. Now that I have larger blocks, I find myself more and more distracted because I'm the Queen of "I have plenty of time to do this...later."

My husband and I have finally come to a compromise about me going back to work. I was initially hoping that we could get through this lean year of greater expenses due to the move and still owning a home in SC, but it's not a good idea to live so precariously, financially. Instead, I will be looking for a job in January and putting my youngest into daycare for the first time. This was very tough, but hopefully it will only be for a year or so. I'm also hopeful it will give me more time to write. Confused? if I have less time to write, it will become more precious. I won't waste the hours that I have, instead I will be looking for a way to unwind, which is what writing always is for me.

The goal is for me to only need to work for one year, and to hopefully have enough content out available for sale that the small royalty checks will let us enjoy a little extra income, but not rely on my continuing to work. My hope is that my daughter will be in daycare for about a year, stay home with me for a summer, then start preschool one or two days a week when she's 4. (My friend's son went ballistic at that age when she had to pull him back out of daycare at 3.5 to stay home, so it will be happy medium I think. I WANT to enjoy as much time with my daughter as I can).

2) To-Do Lists.

I love preparation. Preparation is probably my favorite part of ANY project. In light of my going back to work in three weeks, I need to get done what DOES take me enormous amounts of time to do. I will have weekends, and evenings, but there are a few projects on my plate that would benefit from longer hours of attention.

My reader website. Oh, it's pathetic. It's there, but I need to give it far more TLC than I have.
Two new sites I am working on for my international publisher. One is an estore, the other an interface for authors to upload files for publishing. I'm using my two favorite CMS engines, Wordpress and Drupal.
Fine-tune my social media presence. I will have a shorter time period to work with, so my interactions will need to be very focused. I won't be able to just sit on Twitter.
Get my projects outlined. If I'm going back to writing in 30 minutes at a time, and I am, then I need clear outlines for the projects I want to get done next year. Things still happen spontaneously in my writing, but having the outline prevents me from staring at a blank page. It might be the non-fiction writer in me from years and years of essays. But even just a simple goal for a scene, or a few details is all I need to work my magic.

I know this is a very personal blog post, but I've been rereading some of my earlier blog posts from last year, back before I had any followers. It's been very inspiring to see just how far I've come as a writer and I'm looking forward to reaching new destinations, not necessarily heights, in the New Year.

How about you? How is YOUR writing business going? Are you making adjustments for 2012? Share them below!

Holiday Sirens 1: Derek Blass and Enemy in Blue

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Ann West) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 14:45:00 +0000

Working together is vital for indie authors. We can't waste energy on worrying about competing with each other, books are disposable entertainment, not a zero-sum game (meaning most readers do not have the attitude of only buying/reading a certain number of books but rather plan to eventually read all books that interest them).

I am elated to support the authors and readers of police and crime dramas in this year's Holiday Sirens blog tour. Today, I am hosting author Derek Blass and his book Enemy in Blue. Derek is not only an author, he is also a top lawyer in the Denver, Colorado area. Perhaps the fact that he lives the everyday aspect of criminal justice is why his debut novel has 34 5-star rankings!! Enemy in Blue takes a different look at the tough topic of police brutality and is a novel you don't want to miss.

Here's more about Derek:

How did you come up with the title?

That's a fun question. There was one working title, that ended up not working by the time the book was done. Things change, A LOT, over the course of writing a book! Once it was apparent that a new title was necessary, I enlisted my wife and some of my readers to help me find a new title. Through countless brainstorming sessions, one of my readers came up with "Evil in Blue." I liked it, but not 100%. I was grabbing the mail one day, and "Enemy in Blue" just came to me. Funny how things happen!

Have you dealt with questions regarding whether the book is "anti-cop?"

Definitely. And, it should be noted, the book is not anti-cop at all. It is anti-bad cop. Naturally, not all, or even the majority of cops, are bad. Unfortunately though, something we're seeing more and more of as the proliferation of smart phones and phones with recording devices continues, are increased instances of police brutality. That's really what drove me to write the book.

Is the book based on real life events, or taken strictly from your imagination?

Again, unfortunately, the book derives from some real life events that are fictionalized for purposes of the book. If people are interested in learning more about the underpinnings of some scenes in the book, they should Google "Frank Lobato," "Juan Vasquez," "Michael DeHerrera," and "Marvin Booker." Throw in "DPD" for good measure. These are all instances of police brutality that have taken place in Denver in the last six or so years. I explain to people, without me moving to Denver, and without these incidents, Enemy in Blue likely would not have happened. Now, my book is not historical fiction, so much of what is written is completely from my imagination!

What was the biggest artistic influence on your book?

As to writing style, has to be Don Delillo. I have read everything he has written, and am always captivated by how he writes. As to what I see in my head, and what I want to get down on paper? Tarantino (the movie director) has a huge impact on me. I think that he does a near-perfect job of blending visuals, action and music together, and I aspired to create something as thrilling as one of his movies in Enemy in Blue.

How did you choose your genre?Hard to explain, but I can see action in my head. Fight scenes. Car chases. Torture, kidnapping, etc. (Honestly, I'm not a violent guy in real life!) It was as natural to me to write thrillers with a heavy dose of action as it would be for Christopher Moore to write cheeky fiction.

What inspired you to be a writer?

I've written a lot since I was young, and started on many novels but never followed through to finish one. It's really a labor of love, and with a full-time job that I am committed to (attorney), it takes substantial discipline to keep writing. That being said, there is nothing more beautiful than writing a story, or more appropriately put, to having characters write a story for you. When I write, I'm just as surprised by their decisions as my readers. My characters drive my story and that is an amazing aspect of writing that everyone should try! If people are interested, I started a blog on writing a while back (www.derekblass.wordpress.com) that describes many of the fun, and tedious, nuances of writing.

With all the other thrillers out there, why buy Enemy in Blue?

It's a no nonsense book, full of action and entertainment. I wrote the book for my readers, not for myself. I promise that you will be captivated by the action over the course of the book. At the same time, the book invites you to be introspective on issues of illegal immigration, police brutality, and political corruption. It's not just mind candy, but it's also not a book that will club you over the head with principles. From a purely cost/benefit analysis, both versions of the book are very competitively priced, and the Kindle version is less than a dang cup of coffee at Starbucks! I promise it will deliver more lasting enjoyment than that cup of joe!

Sequel possible?

Oh, yeah! I'm working on a book that involves several of the same characters right now--and I'm trying to get it done soon because I've got a new family member coming to our family in February!

***

Well a HUGE congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Blass. Having a two-year-old myself, I can honestly say you're in for the best roller coaster ride of your life. It's got many highs and lows and lasts forever, but seems to move far too fast at the same time.

Please check out Enemy in Blue and when you like it, be sure to tell a friend or two! :)

Enemy in Blue is available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Pick up your copy today or make it a gift for the crime thriller enthusiast in your life.

It's the End of the Year As We Know It

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Ann West) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:00:00 +0000

It's the end of the year as we know it.... and I feel MORE than fine! :)

The WoMen's Literary Cafe is putting together an awesome promotion for the end of the year? Ready? A timeline of the highs and lows of the year for indie authors.

If you have something you think should be on the timeline, let us know! You can either send me a message OR if you'd also like to list your book in the promotion, there is a place for you to contribute on the form. I will include a link and submitted by for any item someone suggests that we use. :) I am so excited for the network of authors that are participating. The social media reach on this promotion is going to be enormous!

In addition to the Year of the Indie event, there's another new marketing tool available that I'm very proud of: Read and Review. One of the first things Melissa Foster ever did for me, and I still have no idea why I am so blessed to have had this happen, was write every one of HER reviewers and introduce me and my book. Now did all 30 jump to review an unknown author? Um...no. Some had too full of a schedule already, others were interested in other genres (my book is not quite the same genre as hers). But 5 of them responded right away that they would review CANCELLED. Not knowing my head from my you know what, I wrote interviews and guest posts and had great coverage for a brand new book.

The question became how could we set up a system where the books are not only put up for the WLC Review Team to consider, but also encourage sales and readers to review? Starting in January 2012, the solution goes into action. Authors can pay $25 for a full week of promotion on the site, towards the end of the month. The books will be presented as the group of books currently being read by the WLC Review Team, and we encourage our savvy WLC readers to give the books a go and leave their own reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, and B&N. It's reminding readers they have a voice and we want to hear it. It's making the ASK, something authors can't always do when selling their book. Books that are part of the monthly Read and Review program will be given to our reviewers (that are vetted to make sure they are legitimate reviewers, not just someone who wants a free book) for consideration. We can't guarantee every book will get a review, but we can promise that it's at least seen. For new authors, it can be very tough to query reviewers and get into the seemingly endless line of books ahead of yours.

Finally, the end of this year also sees me moving up to the next level of blogging in my mind. Sundays will be all things technology on both Mark Williams International starting Dec. 4th and in January on the WLC!!! Me. Little brand new author has this amazing opportunity to reach so many new readers AND network with other authors of a grand caliber. I am still stunned. I feel like that completely star-struck kid who got a back stage pass to her favorite band in the world.

I have a great deal of work ahead of me, but I wouldn't have it any other way. :) Did I mention I've sold 38 books in November? That brings me to 120 total copies of CANCELLED purchased. :) I know I don't sell as much as some, but I'm very proud of 120 copies sold since 9/13/2011!!!

And I have even more up my sleeve! :) Stay tuned for my End of the Year To-Do List.

Automating Tweets 101

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Ann West) — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 21:29:00 +0000

This topic is not without controversy. But it's time we talk about it. I look at Twitter for TWO types of comunication: active and passive. Active is when Twitter works like an impromptu chat. You and someone else are tweeting back and forth by adding each other's twitter names, like @EAWwrites. This is handy and very valuable to make deeper connections with the people on your following list.

Example:

EAWwrites Elizabeth Ann West

@write_me_happy Great job!!! a Nanowrimo winner!

2 hours ago Favorite Reply Delete

write_me_happy Angie Richmond

@EAWwrites YAY!! Thanks so excited!!

2 hours ago Favorite Retweet Reply

Here is where the line gets blurred. Twitter saves your mentions (@EAWwrites) into a separate stream, so you could stretch out a twitter conversation over hours or even days, like a correspondent chess game. :)

Passive communication is another key component of Twitter. People read your tweets and links you share and the only participation they give is maybe clicking on the link. If they don't like your tweet, they ignore it. There is really very little pain on the part of the follower because if they don't like too many of your tweets, they'll just stop following you. Another form of passive communication is the RT (retweet). Someone likes what you tweeted or liked the link so he or she clicks Retweet and the tweet now goes out to all of their followers with your name and RT in front. RT'ing requires 0 interaction with you.

Automating tweets requires you keep both of these concepts in mind.

Don't just automate tweets that require a link click. Tweet out quotes, ideas, comments, jokes, etc. Then go back during the day and RESPOND to any replies you get (they will be in your Mentions stream).
Write tweets with space for a good RT. Aim for about 100 characters including the link.
Shorten your links manually so you can track how many clicks you get to judge tweet effectiveness.
Space out your automation. If you have 4 tweets go out at 7 AM, you have just spammed all of your followers' streams because a clump of nothing but your tweets just showed up. People ignore these. Only do this if the Tweets cleverly link to one another and are intended to be read together.
Use automation to reach audiences at times you aren't available. I use a timezone chart to make sure I advertise my UK book link at peak times in the UK (which is +5 hours for me, so Good Morning UK goes out at 2 AM my time).
Consider a tweet series. I'm experimenting with a Tech Tips series, where one goes out each hour. If it proves popular, I might space it out throughout the week maybe one each 2 or 3 hour window. Others use quotes etc.
Start slowly. Test the waters. Try tweeting a book link once every few hours.
Remember, most people do not sit on Twitter all day, but only visit for 10-15 minutes at a time. They get a snapshot of their streams, so make sure you tweet often enough to get noticed once in awhile, but not so much they dislike you.

I use Hootsuite to automate my tweets. I pay $5 a month and can automate up to 200 tweets at a time. I have a master spreadsheet that I use for my tweets, so I have three tabs that say Book1, Book2, Book 3. In the first column of each sheet is the time formatted correctly: 26/11/2011 16:25. I have the entire column alternate days and times. I set aside the top of the hour :00 and :25 for links of my book to go out, but it's every other day. So, this is how it looks like:

27/11/2011 01:00

28/11/2011 01:25

27/11/2011 02:00

28/11/2011 02:25

This goes from 1 AM until 11:25 PM. Over two days, that's 46 tweets, or 23 per day of my book link going out. Since I began doing this about three weeks ago, I see 1-2 sales of my book per day. I also get RTs of these tweets and new followers.

The second column on my spreadsheet is for the actual tweet. I used Data Validity to limit the column to 100 characters. If I go over, a popup let's me know it's invalid, too long. I try to keep it below 100 characters so there is room for the URL on the end. I use hashtags and a variety of ways to talk about my book.

Some tweets are little synopses. "She returned his shirt and ruined his life." "He's becoming a dad, but his fiancee isn't pregnant!"
Some include my selling point. "Romance from a male POV" "Chicklit from a male POV" "Guys fall in love, too! Read Johnathan's story."
I quote my reviews. “A little soap opera drama mixed with a great chick lit story..." "Nerdy is hot. Science is fun. I'm so glad to read about intelligent, creative people in this novel!"
I make the ask (this is sales 101). "On lunch break? Why not read the sample of CANCELLED on Amazon on the Cloud? Romance from a guy's POV." "Nothing beats a good book in the afternoon. Try CANCELLED, a light romp with romance from the guy's POV. #Nook"
And some are just quirky: "Moms never get the remote!"

My third column is for my link. ABSOLUTELY put your link through bit.ly or another link shortener BEFORE you let your tweet automater do what it's going to do to it. For example, the link to my book on Nook is

http://bit.ly/CNXnook

Now hoot suite turns this link into a hoot shortened link, but bit.ly still tracks the clicks. I can see exactly how many clicks this link gets every single day in the bit.ly interface, where it's being referred from and what country the IP address is (this is VERY handy for my UK links). It will even show me what hour the link was clicked, so I can get an idea of which tweets are most effective (it's still a guess, a tweet from 3 hours ago could get a click).

Automating tweets is a little like fishing, each tweet is a different lure/bait. You can set all the lines you want (well, as many as your tweet automater will allow) but you have to go back and check the lines. This means you analyze the data that the computer will track for you (using link shorteners) and you MUST go back and interact with the people who interacted with your tweet. If they replied, you reply back. Courteously. If they RT'd, don't just thank them, go to their profile and RT one of their tweets! It takes an extra 5 seconds, if that.

You can't just be a robot on Twitter though. Every single day you have tweets automated you need to spend some time on there being a real person. Responding, replying, participating in fun hashtags, etc. If all you ever do is send out links and non-helpful tweets, you won't get the quality followers that will expand your reach even more with RT's and replies.

There is NO Amazon $.99 Pricing Loophole

noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Ann West) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 23:19:00 +0000

There is a nasty rumor in regards to pricing on Amazon to game the system. It's basically showing that self-published authors ARE NOT READING WHAT THEY AGREED TO when they published with Kindle Direct Publishing and if their friend jumps off a bridge, they will go right after them. Ready? Here's how the rumor goes:

"Guess what? We can make 70% on the $.99 price on Amazon. Here's what you do. Price your Amazon book at $2.99 or above, click 70% option, then go to Barnes and Noble and put your price at $.99. Amazon will match, making it look like your book is a huge deal, AND they will pay you 70% of the $.99 they sell the book for!"

Okay, before we get into why you CAN'T do this, think about it. Would Amazon really leave such a loophole open not in their favor? Probably not. And guess what? They DIDN'T. Authors who are doing this directly violate the KDP Terms and Conditions, specifically the Pricing Page (ref. in 5.3.1 of the Terms and Conditions) Provision Number 4 which states:

4. Setting Your List Price

You must set your Digital Book's List Price (and change it from time-to-time if necessary) so that it is no higher than the list price in any sales channel for any digital or physical edition of the Digital Book.

But if you choose the 70% Royalty Option, you must further set and adjust your List Price so that it is at least 20% below the list price in any sales channel for any physical edition of the Digital Book.

By "list price in any sales channel," we mean the suggested or recommended retail price or, if you sell your book directly to end users, your own sales price, for an edition of the book available outside of our Program.

I am seeing many authors pulling this stunt, some I once thought were ethical and smart business men and women. No longer. Your true colors are shown to me. You are not reading the clearly worded print of the agreements you have made, and you are purposely defrauding Amazon. Remember, when you self-publish, YOU are the publisher. You set your price.

Now if Barnes and Noble decided to discount your sales price, without your approval (which BOTH Amazon and Barnes and Noble have the right to do at any time, read your Terms and Conditions), THEN you would rightfully get 70% of the sales price when Amazon matched it. But Barnes and Noble is not mass reducing all of the indie books to $.99, and when it comes to Amazon wondering about your integrity, I doubt they err on the side of the author. I certainly wouldn't want to be banned from Amazon's KDP for violating their Terms and Conditions, which is exactly what these authors are risking. Read Section 3 of the Terms and Conditions, they can terminate or suspend you at any time, at their discretion.

********UPDATE 11/18 1:24 PM **********
A phone conversation with an Amazon KDP representative confirmed that it is against the Terms and Conditions to abuse price matching and that there is a mechanism to monitor and adjust for abuse. Authors caught abusing the price matching system would be removed. Price matching for FREE is not included in this provision as there is no royalty paid to the author. Authors may use price matching to make their book FREE on Amazon.