One month after Crow...

As the title of this post suggests, it has been one month since I published Crow, the first book in The Crow Series.

I've spent most of the past week working on the website and building the new website for the Crow Series. The Crow Series website is now up and mostly functional. You can find the link up in the menu bar above or you can check it out by clicking HERE. The website needed to be my focus since I had been avoiding it all month. (Please be aware: after February 2015 The Crow Series website mentioned above was changed and links will no longer work.)

When I realized that we had reached the end of the month, my focus started to blur. What I mean by this is that I had a bit of a freak out regarding my lack of marketing for the book so far. I started researching ways to market and book bloggers to approach blah blah. I mean, I was really freaking out, because my goal is to double my sales of the book / books every month until the end of the year. For the first month, I've sold 22 books combined on all formats. I hope to sell a minimum of 40 for July, 80 for August etc etc, but so far I seem to have exhausted my personal circle of interested friends and family as well as the few people who have been reading it on Wattpad and were willing to purchase a copy. So that means, in order to accomplish my goal I needed to start finding other methods of finding readers...

And then I came across a blog by "The Vigilante Author", Robert Bidinotto. First, let me say he seems like a pretty awesome guy and his books look really good. But what stood out to me was his blog post "10 Winning Marketing Strategies for Your Self-Published Book" which served as a nice slap in the face to remind me of what my intentions are - to write my next book and not freak out about the marketing (yet!) I may not have a lot of readers so far, but those who have read Crow have all said one thing in common - "When is the next book coming out?" My marketing strategy right now is to finish and put out the second book in the series. Once I've done that, I'll start working on my marketing ideas.

That being said, if you have read Crow and enjoyed it, please consider leaving a review on Amazon, B&N, Goodreads and tell your friends about it!

Thanks for reading!

Frustration is free... but I'd like a refund anyway.

If you're wondering what's up with the title of my blog post today - I've had this song blasting in my head since last night:

I've never really been a huge fan of The Cranberries - their song "Zombie" kinda annoyed me for some unknown reason, but ever since I was younger, the song "Salvation" has always played in my head as "Frustration... frustration... frustration is FREE." LMAO

So, sales of the book have dropped off... which is to be expected, I guess, since I haven't done too much in the way of marketing. I really suck at tooting my own horn, and I feel stupid harassing other people to spread the word, even though word of mouth is the only tool I have at my disposal right now. Even the Wattpad reads have dwindled, since most of the people who were following along have now bought the book and so have stopped keeping up with the updates. I have gotten the impression that my first chapter is perhaps a little too slow and sad and it's putting potential readers off - but I'm not really sure what to do about it other than a complete rewrite of the beginning, which I really don't want to do again. Much of what happens in those first few chapters is integral, not just to the book, but the entire plot-line of the series. I wanted readers to see how Denora is before all the craziness starts, and why she is that way -  how she carries that sadness, mistrust and pain with her throughout the story. Unfortunately, the snippet that Amazon gives potential purchasers to read is the beginning - and other than reviews (of which I only have 3) it is what they base their decision on whether or not to read the book. I'm finding this incredibly frustrating because I'm trying to work on the second book and don't have a lot of time to push the first one. I had all these grand ideas of making a book promo video and sending the book out to book bloggers - but without more reviews the book bloggers won't take much interest, and I simply haven't been able to find the time to make a video... I haven't even been able to finish the Crow website yet!

That being said, I'm close to half way done with the first draft of the second book in the Crow series (Yay!) But working on writing has gotten complicated now that my littlest one is walking. I'm starting to feel cross-eyed, since there are now four little hands getting into trouble that I have to keep an eye on! And in terms of messes and trouble, both my kids have been in rare form the past couple of weeks. HA. I'd probably be finished by mid-July, though I'm not holding my breath because that is right around the time that my husband and I planned to take our Stay-cation to go do activities around the city with our kids. We'll just have to see.

Also, I finally got my paperback copies of Crow in the mail yesterday. It's kind of strange, holding a book with my name on it, but exhilarating at the same time. I noticed a few small things that I want to fix, as well as some minor grammar issues that snuck past my editing program and my bazillion read throughs that I intend to fix and then re-upload the corrected books (just MORE things I have to find time to do ugh!) Once I've fixed the things that are nagging at me I'll be ordering more books and will probably host a few giveaways, including a Goodreads giveaway to try to spread interest outside my inner circle (no offense guys, you know I love you, but I need other people to read it too :P)

The Crow website is another project I'm still trudging through when I can squeeze out some time. It still needs a lot of work - I think I may start adding pics and excerpts today and try to get it more established before I unleash it on all of you.

On that note, I'd like to sincerely thank everyone who has bought a copy of Crow. In my best effort to overcome my timidness, I'd like to ask you guys - if you know people who like to read the sort of stuff I write, please help me spread the word! Tell people about it, leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads if you have it and have read it. It would help me out SO MUCH and I would love you forever! At this point, no one other than you is going to find it unless someone sticks it under their nose and says "This book is awesome! You should read it!"

So thank you again, everyone who has been supporting me. You guys rock my socks off!

What's new? Ohhhh yeah!

The past two weeks have been kinda crazy.

Sales on Crow have been slow, as expected, since I haven't done much in the way of marketing... and I kind of suck at social media. The readers on Wattpad have also slowed, but partially because some of the dedicated readers have now bought the book and have stopped reading the updates. I've sold probably about 20 copies combined.

Those who have bought the paperback have all had good things to say about the quality of the book and formatting - which makes me excited! I've gotten a few very nice and complementary reviews and I'm hoping when more of the purchasers finish the book, they will also leave reviews (fingers crossed!)

I've been looking into places to advertise the book - review sites etc - but unfortunately most of those places require 8 - 10 positive reviews before they'll even consider posting it... so I've got to wait.

So far, the consensus between those who have finished the book is that they love the unusual paranormal world, the gritty and dark setting, the diverse characters and the unexpected twists throughout the book. The biggest complaint seems to be that the book is too short and they want the second one.

As far as the second book is concerned, I've thrown myself into it. I'm about 25% of the way through the first draft and loving it! Last Thursday I got so in to it, I wrote twice as much as I normally do in a day and the subsequent days, while I was at my job, I thought about it constantly - writing down snippets of dialogue and plot points on the notepad function on my cell phone.

The story is progressing smoothly and I'm really enjoying getting back into their world and playing with Denora and Silas again! I'm not going to give any spoilers, but I will say, in my opinion, that the second book is already better than the first one. I still haven't settled on the title yet, but I'm hoping to have it finished and published by mid-September.

Well, that's it for now. I'll try to post again soon.

Crow Excerpts Poll

I've added a few excerpts from Crow but I'm looking for suggestions for additional excerpts to add. If you've read the book, or even if you've been keeping up with the updates on Wattpad, I'm looking for your favorite scenes! I'd prefer scenes without spoilers. These are the current options, but if you have a favorite scene you think would make an excellent excerpt for the website that isn't on the list, let me know in the comments!

Possible Excerpts:

(In no particular order).

- Denora takes the purification potion.

- Denora and Soda's moment of weakness (kissing scene).

- Denora meets Veruca (the talking rat).

- Denora visits the Familiar Shop.

- Denora and Silas in the Enchanted Apothecary.
 

Crow paperbacks - My first time using Createspace.

The paperback version of Crow is finally finished and available through Createspace and Amazon!

It took me a little longer to get the paperbacks put together as I ended up having several formatting issues. Now that I look back on it, it's actually pretty funny and I want to smack my head and go "Duh!".

After finishing the ebooks on Amazon Kindle and Barnes and Noble's Nook, I started researching how to create my paperbacks. I downloaded the appropriate template directly from Createspace's website and started cutting and pasting the book and making the appropriate tweaks. Half way through, I saved the document to work on something else and when I came back to it I was horrified to see that all the formatting had shifted. Determined, I looked up how to do the formatting myself and the next day I remade it from scratch. The formatting looked perfect and I was incredibly pleased with it. I saved it again and went to work on finishing the back cover.

The next day (we're up to three days now, trying to get the paperbacks together) I downloaded the cover template from Createspace and pasted my front and back covers in, making more tweaks to the images and spine until I was happy with it. Once complete, I eagerly opened the file that had the book's interior and just about had a meltdown when the formatting on the document I had made from scratch was also a complete mess!

It took awhile for me to figure out what was wrong. I was using OpenOffice to create the documents but was saving them as a .doc file, which is what I'm used to, and saving it in that format was stripping out all my elaborate formatting. So, day four, I remade the file AGAIN from scratch, this time saving it in the appropriate .odt format before exporting it into the .pdf file that Createspace required.

It was a messy headache, but now that I've been through it, I certainly won't be making those mistakes again - publishing the paperbacks for future books should be much easier and faster.

After a fairly quick 12 hour review process, Createspace put the paperbacks for Crow up on their site for sale - and now it is also available through Amazon as well.

It has been a fascinating, and frustrating, experience but I am incredibly happy with it and I can't wait to hold a copy in my hands. I know it seems silly, and maybe it's just a throwback to my youth, but holding that book in my hand - I feel like it will finally cement it in my head that I am a published author!

Wooooohoooo!

I hope you all enjoy the book and I'm already preparing to start the next one!

Happy Reading :)