Taking the Plunge!

Status
Not open for further replies.

AndreaGS

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 21, 2005
Messages
846
Reaction score
144
Location
California
Website
andreagstewart.com
Solicited reviews in exchange for free advance copies on facebook, goodreads, and writeon. Haven't tapped wattpad yet, but I'm trying to figure out the best way to utilize that audience. Lots of review copies off and away! Fly my pretties, fly! I'm going to keep track of the number of copies sent out and reviews garnered before release--try to figure out which venue I had the most success with.

I had a nightmare last night that I'd somehow missed a HUGE plot hole in the beginning of the book and everyone was throwing it at the wall. Woke up and scoured the beginning again. Did I just trade hey-I-have-to-take-this-college-final-but-WAIT-I-just-realized-I-never-studied-for-it nightmares for this? Fun fact: I graduated ten years ago, so who knows how long this will go on for. Pretty sure my brain is trying to kill me.
 

AndreaGS

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 21, 2005
Messages
846
Reaction score
144
Location
California
Website
andreagstewart.com
Got my first couple reviews on goodreads and they were positive! One was solicited through the ARC forum on goodreads, and another is from an acquaintance of my husband's (I've been giving away some advance copies through facebook).

How active do you guys think it's appropriate to be on goodreads? I see some of my friends "like" reviews of their books. Is that too looking-over-the-shoulder, or is it a good way to stay connected?

I sold a story to IGMS. Selling something always gets me fired up, because it's proof that I don't suck. And I haven't had much circulating since I've been concentrating on novels, so it's nice to have a blip of validation. Working on revisions for book 2. It came in short on the word count, and I can tell it needs some structural work. I plotted both books 1 and 2 in Word, on a chapter-by-chapter basis, but I think I need to move it to Excel so I can better consider plot points that move between books.

Fiddling with my covers for book 2 and 3. They've been done for a while, but the book 2 cover has been bothering me--I just didn't think it had quite the interest or focus I think it needed. I think I fixed it. Will have to run it by some people again for another round of critique.

My website for the series is up, but it's so bare bones right now and not ready for prime time. I'm working on content. I'll have a guide to the Fae Families, with each of their insignias. I started sketching some of the characters, so I may add those too. My goal is to have it all together and looking lovely at least two weeks before launch.
 

AndreaGS

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 21, 2005
Messages
846
Reaction score
144
Location
California
Website
andreagstewart.com
Still here, still on track for April 1! I've been giving away ARCs and I've been getting great early reviews. Doing a semi-regular giveaway has helped to boost visibility and want-to-read numbers.

I also have a review coming out in Urban Fantasy Magazine, to coincide with the release. I saw the reviewer gave me 5/5 on goodreads, and I'm seriously about to puke from how excited/nervous that makes me. It's good stress!

I'm hard at work on cleaning up book 2, but I'm also working on a book for my alternate life as an author going the trade publishing route, so...things are hectic!

I did a reading at a convention over the weekend and people actually laughed at all the right places. I signed up for a couple of guest blog event thingies, but those aren't until May.

It's up for pre-order now, which in retrospect, I wish I'd waited a bit longer. I had this promotional thing I was trying to do which ended up being a complete failure. I'll post all about that later so you can learn from my idiocy.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U52KZBC/?tag=absowrit-20
 

AndreaGS

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 21, 2005
Messages
846
Reaction score
144
Location
California
Website
andreagstewart.com
As promised, the dumb thing I did...

First off, I think I put the book up for preorder too early. If I could go back and do it again, I'd put it up for preorder maybe a couple weeks beforehand instead of a month. The preorder sales count toward your sales ranking, and not all on one day. There's no "Look Inside" option, so people can't see the first pages--and I think that's important.

The idea I had behind it was that I was heading to a convention, and I wanted people to be able to click to preorder if they liked the samples/bookmarks/reading.

I made bookmarks from MOO mini-cards by punching a small hole at the top and threading ribbon through. They were very pretty bookmarks. The problem was...I'd used an online website to make a QR code that led to the first three chapters...and it turned out not to be as free as I'd thought. The website was fairly opaque.

I learned later that--not only were people actually scanning the QR code, it was taking them to a page that said the free trial was over. *facepalm* I also learned that Google will generate QR codes for free--really, actually free.

Live and learn, I suppose. I'll make new bookmarks for the next con.
 

AndreaGS

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 21, 2005
Messages
846
Reaction score
144
Location
California
Website
andreagstewart.com
It's out today (no fooling)! So excited! Here's the amazon link, though I have it up on most other platforms as well:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U52KZBC/?tag=absowrit-20

So far, I've made enough money for two fancy schmancy pizzas! Hurrah! I have a guest blog post going up later today, and a couple more scheduled for May. I have the second book mostly finished, and I'll be putting out an interim novella, Changeling on the Job. I've had sales from amazon and B&N, and nothing thus far from other platforms.

I also found this page:

https://comehitherbooks.wordpress.com/2015/04/01/fantasy-book-releases-april-2015/

*giggles madly* NO WAY.
 

djunamod

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 25, 2010
Messages
179
Reaction score
5
Location
West Texas
Sounds like you're off to an excellent start! Congratulations!!!

Djuna
 

AndreaGS

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 21, 2005
Messages
846
Reaction score
144
Location
California
Website
andreagstewart.com
Thanks, Djuna!

Apparently, my book went out in the April Goodreads newsletter as one of five new releases for fantasy, next to four prettier books, including Grace of Kings (*fangirls*). I have no idea exactly how that happened except maybe visibility and number of want-to-reads? Some odd algorithm? I did several Goodreads giveaways, a week at a time, so my book popped up at the top of the giveaway list on a semi-regular basis.

However it happened, I'm very happy that it did. I'm almost certain that it's boosted sales.

I did a guest post on Alex Shvartsman's "The Hook" series, which is awesome--I highly recommend it. Basically authors talk about why they chose the beginning they did and book beginnings in general.

http://alexshvartsman.com/2015/04/01/the-hook-loose-changeling-by-andrea-stewart/

I'll be guesting on The Romance Bookmark Radio Show on April 28th! I've done a couple TV appearances and one radio guest thing before, so I'm glad I have that experience under my belt. I know I'll need to practice the verbal pitch for my book--just to make sure it's 100% smooth. I've been working on the public speaking thing. It's one of the things I want to conquer this year.
 

akaria

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 23, 2011
Messages
579
Reaction score
61
Location
Brooklyn represent!
Great news and a great beginning to your Changelings!

BTW, I agree with you on the pre-order thing. I made the same mistake and the lack of the "Look Inside" feature bummed me out.
 

AndreaGS

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 21, 2005
Messages
846
Reaction score
144
Location
California
Website
andreagstewart.com
BTW, I agree with you on the pre-order thing. I made the same mistake and the lack of the "Look Inside" feature bummed me out.

I know, right?? Live and learn, I guess. It's like getting a puppy. I read all the books, bought what I thought were all the correct supplies, and I still ran into things I just didn't anticipate (like wow, even tiny puppies are SO DESTRUCTIVE).

I'm at 140 sales so far across various platforms--which is good, because it turns out my cat is sick and vet bills are $$$. Waiting on the results of all the tests, but it doesn't look like it's anything untreatable, which is great.

Sales have been steady, which I'm surprised about. I'm expecting a drop-off soon.

I can't get my cover for book 2 the way I want it, no matter how hard I try, so I'm scrapping it and starting over. Book 3 cover is done and pretty, novella cover is mocked up and I like it. I'm hoping to get a couple days off from work approved so I can finish revisions on another unrelated book and I have a revise and resubmit request on a short story that I agree with, so nose--meet grindstone.
 

grayworld

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 14, 2013
Messages
274
Reaction score
36
Location
Midwest, USA
Congratulations, AndreaGS. You put a ton of planning and effort into your book launch, and it shows. Nicely done.

Continued success!
 

AndreaGS

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 21, 2005
Messages
846
Reaction score
144
Location
California
Website
andreagstewart.com
Thanks, grayworld! I'm up past 200 sales now :D They've dropped off, but I'm still selling books every day, so that's wonderful. Added some new people to my mailing list. Got some new, lovely reviews, and my first one-star rating on Goodreads. You're not legit until someone hates your book, right? ;)

I'll be a program participant at WorldCon this year, which I'm excited and nervous about. I did my first panel just last month at a local con, speaking about imposter syndrome--which I know loads about! I think one of the only things keeping me going is a morbid sense of mortality. Hey, I'm going to die someday, and I'd hate to die knowing I let a ton of opportunities pass me by just because I was too scared. My New Year's resolution was to be bold, so I am doing the best I can to fake it 'til I make it!

We also added another author to our little co-op imprint, so there are four of us now. We've been exchanging marketing ideas and doing a bit of cross-promoting. It's been great!
 

AndreaGS

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 21, 2005
Messages
846
Reaction score
144
Location
California
Website
andreagstewart.com
Sales have been pretty good! 300-something so far; I haven't run exact numbers lately (selling on many different channels). Amazon is the biggest, by far. I did a couple more promotional bits. A guest post with giveaway up on Dark Faerie Tales blog. I wrote a short bit with my main character in a fairytale of her own making. That's the theme all this month on their blog.

I also appeared on Renee Bernard's The Romance Bookmark Radio Show, which was a fun, short bit.

Have another couple guest blog things coming up. I'm currently working my butt off to get a project back to my agent that I'm very excited about. It's been tough trying to get my self-publishing stuff off the ground, working overtime at the day job, keeping some short stories circulating, and working on my other novels. I just need something to work out in an amazing way because I'm tired of climbing this mountain (I know there is ALWAYS another mountain, but I want to get to the top of this one...).

And then I'm going to take a week off and just play Dragon Age: Inquisition.
 

Mclesh

It's too hot
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 18, 2010
Messages
4,526
Reaction score
1,804
Location
Southern California
Website
www.storyrhyme.com
Congrats on those sales, Andrea! Awesome!

I tried the preorder feature on Amazon once but didn't really see much in the way of preorders. Most people tend to wait until they can buy the book and start reading (it seems like to me anyway). And not having the "look inside" is a disadvantage, I think (echoing akaria).

Looks like you've been super busy with everything. I think that vacation is well deserved. :)
 

SBibb

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 2, 2011
Messages
1,573
Reaction score
116
Website
sbibb.wordpress.com
Congrats on the sales, and getting the reviews. :-D

You're blurb sounds entertaining, so I suspect that will help. :)
 

M. H. Lee

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 24, 2012
Messages
501
Reaction score
67
I just need something to work out in an amazing way because I'm tired of climbing this mountain (I know there is ALWAYS another mountain, but I want to get to the top of this one...).

I know that feeling! Sounds like you're really hustling it, so hope that effort starts to pay off.
 

AndreaGS

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 21, 2005
Messages
846
Reaction score
144
Location
California
Website
andreagstewart.com
Cleared a different writing project off my desk (for now...I am still exceedingly preoccupied with whether or not it's good enough), and intensely working to get the interim novella, Changeling on the Job, done. After that, it's revisions on Spare Changeling! I reserved a spot with an editor toward the end of this month, with the goal of releasing the novella July 15.

It is SO GOOD to be drafting again. I feel like I've been revising stuff FOREVER. Ruminating on what sort of promotional stuff I should do as soon as the novella hits...
 

AndreaGS

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 21, 2005
Messages
846
Reaction score
144
Location
California
Website
andreagstewart.com
Still here, still self-pubbing! I have a release scheduled for next week, for an interim novella.

I did the full edit this time, but she didn't have much to say content-wise. I'm still glad I paid for it, just in case! I'm feeling great about it; I ran it through a couple of beta readers as well, and they both had good things to say. I trunked the first novella I ever wrote without bothering to send it out, so my theory is that I got all the awfulness out on the practice round ;) Now I'm patching things up so I can do the ebook converting to get it ready to go. Thinking about what promotional stuff I can do, and considering dropping the price on book 1 or trying to go free.

Things are happening on the trade publishing side. I have book 2 of my Changeling Wars series drafted and in need of revising, but I think I'll have to switch gears for a while.

Sales for book 1 dropped after the end of month two, so I can definitely see how an every-two-months release schedule is best. I just can't manage with everything else.
 

akaria

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 23, 2011
Messages
579
Reaction score
61
Location
Brooklyn represent!
Totally agree with you on how good it feels to write again after being in editing hell. Letting the words flow is so relaxing.

Sounds like you're spinning a lot of plates. Are you on target for July 15 release?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.