Friday, August 16, 2013

This is so much work

I thought writing the book was work. Holy cow promoting it and publishing it and then republishing it is work too. So of course now that my husband has seen a finished product he has decided to help me. I love the help I really do but it would have made my life easier if he would have been the research guru that he his now months ago. There are a few more new things he has learned and shared with me. For instance that free isbn number that CreateSpace gave me. I should not have taken it. I should have just gotten my own because now I have to retire my CreateSpace isbn and upload a whole new file and cover image and start from scratch in order to change my isbn. There was an article that suggested I drop my CS isbn and replace it with my own isbn and then I can print on demand through Create Space for online retailers and I can use Lightening for bookstore orders. I am sharing this information because I'm hoping my mistakes and trials and success will help someone else at some point.

So in a nutshell if you want to offer print on demand books and your goal is to see in bookstores you need your own ISBN.You are better off at Lightening. If you want to focus on online sales then the best place to be is Create Space but I would suggest getting your own number so if you want to do both you can. More than one ISBN is not a good idea because best seller lists are based on isbn tracking. Clear as mud?

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Marketing! Marketing! Marketing!

Exciting things are happening. I printed off a list of local bookstores under the Chapters/Indigo umbrella and made a couple of phone calls. It seems most managers have taken vacation this week so I do have to call a few back but I did have success with a chapters store who has agreed to carry my book on a 30 day consignment trial and another store requested I email my book's information as they do have space available. Only one loaction (a small coles store) said it was more bother than it was worth to set up an indi author so I wrote her a two page letter begging her to reconsider. Will see how that pans out. There are fifty stores within a two hour drive from me and my goal is to get in all of them over the next twelve months. I am not above begging.

I sold an ebook on Amazon.es which is Spain. Totally cool!

We managed to book a booth at Word on the street, which is a huge book festival in Toronto where there will be over 250,000 readers on site looking for their next great read. I am completely pumped and we contacted create space to speed up my re-edit which is scheduled for proofing on the 23rd but today they said they will prioritize and will have it ready by the 16th so we will have our order in on time for the festival. It takes around 11-14 days from ordering to actually receive the books. Expediting shipping is too pricey. Especially since I have already paid for 100 copies that I am selling at a discount due to editing errors. My fault not CreateSpace.

One other thing I wanted to mention that I noticed today was that although you may get a printing package a little cheaper than what CreateSpace will do it for The cost per book is a much better price at CreateSpace. Based on the printing costs being relatively reasonable I do not have to price gouge to make a buck. Sometimes once the vendors take a cut there isn't much left. I was on an indi site where the printing costs to do my book to exact specifications was literally double the price. Based on that the minimum list price was almost thirty dollars because they take a little bit on top of that printing cost as well. My online price(because I don't cover shipping costs) is $13.95 and I am pretty sure my vendor list price will be around $14.95.

So things are continuing to move forward. My average rating on Goodreads is 4.25 and I am thrilled!
I almost forgot there is a book trailer in the works too.
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Till next time <3
KC



Friday, August 2, 2013

What to do?

So I am trying to decide if I should read or write this evening. Its been a few weeks since I have read anything. Most of my books are packed in boxes. (The ones I was able to salvage). We recently had a flood and I lost the bottom shelf of two book shelves and some boxes I had in my storage room. It was heart breaking to junk them.
On Dublin Street was recommended to me recently. The title sounded familiar... The next day I realized it was on my to be read shelf in my rec room. No wonder it sounded familiar I had purchased it my last trip to the book store. Problem is I literally have to dig through  several boxes to find it. I am a bit hesitant to write simply because I have been writing in circles lately. A bunch of fluff not much of anything. There are some really good key plot elements that I have to get to but I am having difficulty getting to them. I have learned through writing The Jaxon Effect that it's because the direction I am going is the wrong one because I forced it. Eventually it will click and I will be able to write for days without coming up for air. But until then I will be walking around with knots in my stomach until I can get something substantial on paper and dump the words that are stored far back in my subconscious.
The story belongs to the characters. I am like a fly on the wall watching and relaying what I see. I can't think about the story I have to see the story. I'm not sure if that's how it is for other people but that's how it is for me. So I know its recommended that you should write through a block but I don't like to. It gets me more frustrated. I just have to wait until Kate and Jaxon invite me into their world again so I can continue to tell the story. I hope it's soon! I think I'll make myself a latte!

Moving Right Along!

I am moving right along

Ordered promotional books
Have my book available on Amazon
Set up with Smashwords  who will be able to distribute my book in all formats to all major devices
I have my website   www.thejaxoneffect.com
I have found some ladies at Goodreads that are going to review my book
I have a Facebook page that is getting more fans every day
I have read tons of marketing articles
I formed my blog
I have a twitter account
I requested an isbn for my book registered to me the author so indie stores will consider shelving
Requested an author page on Goodreads so I may offer promotional material
I sent emails to people I know and asked them to spread the word

Still to do

Order business cards, bookmarks and sell sheets
Set up some public appearances
Continue to search for professional book reviews

 I am taking all of the textbook steps that have been recommended. I just need to figure out some of my own. :)



My motto is sell one book at a time!

Now if I could just figure out how to schedule myself properly so I can promote my book and write in the same day that would be great!

I think I need to find more reading  groups to crash! Maybe I will pop in on my old book club. Drop off some freebies!