I'm going to self publish!

Thank you all so much!!

adrianstaccato said:

AHAHA I know the feeling, because I do the exact same thing with people who rate my book low. One of them gave my book 1 star, and looking at her reading preferences, I discovered she rated my all time favorite book The Catcher in the Rye a 1. Animal Farm too. She gave a 5 star rating to Sailor Moon Vol. 7...UGH

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So happy to see I'm not the only one! lol

kelloish said:

Just read through all of your posts on this thread, it's all really interesting to follow. I'm curious to see how a new addition to the series will impact your sales.

Best of luck!

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Thanks & I'm curious to see if my novella will boost my sales too. Hopefully it will. I just have to get this darn cover finished! I'm having a bit of trouble deciding on the couple to use on the cover.

I'm on a roll with a short story right now which is gret but...I need to start paying more attention to my next novel.

Tomorrow night I will submiting my books to Smashwords to get my books on Sony & iBooks. Does anyone know what happens if I already have put my books on Kobo, Nook & Kindle? Does that mess anything up with Smashwords? I see they have a box to check for where I want the books to publish but it combines iBooks with Nook, etc. Will they automaticaly know my books are already available on those devices?

Spell-it-out said:

Great stuff Celeste, keep up the good work.

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TroyJackson said:

Very interesting stuff. Especially for those of us who are new to the industry.

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Thank you!


So I thought I'd pop in here and give some updates and vent a little.

First, allromance.com has been working really well for me and I sold 3 more books on there this week!

Now, I need to vent. I have to say that I love Apple. I have every Apple product available. We are the type of people (my husband & I) that have the new products the day they come out. But I have started to hate them lol. Because I use a pen name I cannot upload my books on iBooks directly. I've tried, I've researched & it just can't be done. This annoys me. I really want to be on iBooks, but I really don't want to have to use a 3rd party to do so! I finally caved & thought I should just suck it up & use Smashwords. Well, there was a reason I didn't use them in the 1st place. Personally I like going directly to the company like Kindle, Nook & Kobo have allowed me to do. For Sony & iBooks that's not possible. I'll refrain from saying anymore. I don't want to come off like I'm bashing Smashwords. It works well for a lot of people. That is not my intent. Am I being silly? Should I just use Smashwords?

My cover for the new novella is taking longer than I planned. I'm having a hard time making a decision on what I want, so I'm the reason for the delay. I did update my website with a page dedicated to the novella with the title & blurb. I wanted the book to be available already but I don't see that happening until the end of this month.

I'm trying to keep up with the social media stuff while trying to complete the short story & next novel and I'm not doing so good with the writing. Am I putting too much focus on social media? How much time should I be devoting to that?

I'm getting into a funk & I'm not sure how to get out of it! I think my approaching birthday on Thurs is what's setting me back! I hate getting older! lol

Hi everyone! Just popping in for an update.

I've been working hard on writing my short story and new novel. Both are coming along nicely.

Not sure if I should put this in its own thread but I'll just put this here for now. What do you all think about social media as far as sales go? The reason I ask is I'm on just about every social media out there. (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, Goodreads) I'm active on all the sites. I get a steady flow of followers. But as far as I can tell none of them equal any sales of my books. So, should I just be looking at social media as a way to get my name out there but not as a tool to sell my books? I'm just wondering if my time spent on these sites is worth it?

I know the best way to sell your book is to put another out there. My next book is taking longer than planned because I'm trying to get the cover just right. In the meantime I'm writing more & trying to get bloggers to read & review my books that are available now. Most of them are too backed up with books to take on new ones. A bunch of them didn't even respond to me. I did have one reviewer contact me & I sent copies of both my books & waiting on a review now.

I think more reviews for my books would help but I don't know how to get them other than what I've already done!

I guess I'm just frustrated because I haven't had any sales this week. Also this cover I'm trying to create with my designer is really driving me crazy! I can't find anything that feels right.

So, while my writing is going well, my sales are not. But, I keep telling myself there has to be more that I can do.

Here's my plan for this month:
1. Get the cover of the novella done so I can put that book up for sale.
2. Finish my short story. Create the cover. Offer it for free on all the sites my books are available.
3. Advertise on allromance.com
4. Work on my novel.

I'm open to any advice anyone wants to offer on social media, how to get more sales, and how to get bloggers to review my books.

Thanks!

Thanks Rob! Great advice & what you said about social media makes sense.

I'm going to add my total sales so far.
I self published 2 books (1 novel, 1 novelette) in May of 2012 on Amazon & B&N
In Oct. 2012 I added both books to Kobo
In Nov. I added both books to allromance.com
Below is the total sales:

May
Give Me Forever: 13
Give Me Your Trust: 3

June
Give Me Forever: 2
Give Me Your Trust: 2

July
Give Me Forever: 2
Give Me Your Trust: 1

August
Give Me Forever: 2
Give Me Your Trust: 0

September
Give Me Forever: 1
Give Me Your Trust: 0

October
Give Me Forever: 0
Give Me Your Trust: 0

November
Give Me Forever: 6
Give Me Your Trust: 4

*These figures include 3 books of each title that I gave away for reviews
*November sales came intirely from allromance.com
*I have had no sales from Kobo
*I have had no sales from B&N since July

Another update!
On 12-12-12 I will be releasing my new book Give Me My Destiny. I've been plugging it on social media & just did a cover reveal. I'm really excited to have another book available!!

Good news! I just had 2 sales on Kobo!! They are my first sales on there since I put my books up in Nov. So for Dec I now have 2 sales and that makes me really happy!!

I posted a new blog today which I haven't done in a long time. In it I announced what my plans are for 2013. I'll go ahead and add it here.

In the new year I plan on offering all 3 of my books for purchase in a printed copy from my website. If someone buys a printed copy from me I'll autograph the book & include some swag. (haven't decided what I'll do for swag yet) Also I'm going to offer a special price if they purchase all 3 books from me. I'm going to run contests for freebies to build up my brand. Everyone loves something free so I figure I can offer gift cards or swag for contests. I am hopeful that I will have 2 new novels in my series up for sale in 2013.

I also have a novelette that I'm going to offer as a free read on my website. It was supose to be a short story but it's a lot longer. I also changed my mind about where I'm going to have it available. If I put it up on my site I won't have to make a cover, it'll bring people to my site & it'll let people get a feel for my writing style before purchasing anything. That should be available in Jan.

I'll probably do another free book giveaway on Goodreads at some point. 106 people still have my 1st book on their TBR pile on Goodreads so I'm hopeful at least some of them will actually buy the book!!

I'm really excited about my plans.

Just wanted to post a quick update!

My new book has released and I've sold about 3 copies so far. Better than nothing so I'm happy! I've also sold a couple of the 1st 2 books too! So, I'm really excited about that!

I am a memeber of a group on Goodreads and offered free copies of my 1st book in exchange for a review. I had around 7 or 8 takers and got my 1st review back already. 4 stars!! I am really excited about that! I'm kind of nervous for the rest of the reviews. Of course I want everyone to love my book! lol Also, I have the blogger who did a review on my 1st 2 books reading the 3rd now & she will be posting her review on her blog, Goodreads, and Amazon.

I've gained a lot of new followers on Twitter & still trying to navigate Tumblr. Out of all social media out there, I find Twitter to be the most enjoyable. As far as sales go, I think Goodreads and All Romance have so far worked the best for me.

I'm working on 2 novels and a novella all for the same series. They are all coming along well. But, due to the holidays and a vacation I am going on, my writing has to be put on hold for a bit.

That's all for now! I'm looking forward to the new year and all the wonderful things I have planned for promotion that I mentioned already.

Thank you all for the encouragement and well wishes!

Spell-it-out said:

Great work Celeste, congrats on releasing the new book.

I am enrolled in Kindle Select, so am I allowed to give away free copies on goodreads in a group exchange scheme like you did? I am not on goodreads at the moment, just thinking about the weeks and months ahead.

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Thank you!
As for your question, on Goodreads in order to do a giveaway you need a printed copy of your book to offer. You can give away as many as you would like. I don't think it matters that you are enrolled in KDP select. I think Goodreads will help get your book noticed.

Since it's the start of the new year I thought it would be a good idea to recap my sales from the beginning. I self published 2 ebooks in May of 2012. Currently I have 3 ebooks available on Amazon, B&N, Kobo, and allromance.com.

May
Give Me Forever: 13
Give Me Your Trust: 3

June
Give Me Forever: 2
Give Me Your Trust: 2

July
Give Me Forever: 2
Give Me Your Trust: 1

August
Give Me Forever: 2
Give Me Your Trust: 0

September
Give Me Forever: 1
Give Me Your Trust: 0

October
Give Me Forever: 0
Give Me Your Trust: 0

November
Give Me Forever: 6
Give Me Your Trust: 4

December
Give Me Forever: 10
Give Me Your Trust: 2
Give Me My Destiny: 5

Totals for 2012
Give Me Forever: 36
Give Me Your Trust: 12
Give Me My Destiny: 5

*These figures include 12 books of Give Me Forever, 3 books of Give Me Your Trust, and 2 books of Give Me My Destiny that I gave away for reviews
*November sales came intirely from allromance.com
*Totals do not include borrowed books because I haven't really kept track of that.

As for reviews... not everyone that got free copies did reviews. The reviews that have come in for my 1st book are all over the place ranging from 5 stars to 2! On the positive side, no one said my writing was crap and no one said they hated the book lol. As for the other 2 the reviews have been really good ranging from 5 to 3 stars!

So far Jan is starting off well. I just saw I have a sale of my 3rd book!!

Now I have to get back to writing & get started on some contests to hopefully help build my brand!

I need some help and advice, please!

The editing of my 1st book Give Me Forever didn't go well. To be perfectly honest, I did not have it professionally edited before putting it up for sale. I relied on myself and 3 beta's. (believe me, I know this was a HUGE mistake) After a few months, I was told about some issues with spelling errors, and grammar erorrs. I then tried to fix things by using "friends" who had editing experience go through the book. At this point I could not afford to hire an editor. Then, when there were still issues, I hired a couple of people to proof read, and copy edit. Things still slipped by! Obviously I was not working with the right people.

My book has gotten what I feel are really harmful reviews about editing. They are issues I can't argue with and want/need to rectify. Which brings me to my delima.

Thankfully I have found a real, professional editor that I feel really good about. I have started to get the ball rolling and a new, properly edited version of my book should be ready within a few months.

I think I should take Give Me Forever (my 1st novel) and Give Me Your Trust (2nd in the series, novelette) off the market. I think after Give Me Forever is in top shape, then I should rerelease them both. Is this a bad move? I just don't want to have anyone else spending money on a poorly edited book. Is this too late to rectify? I know those reviews will always be there, but I'm hopeful that after I rerelease it with a note about it being a new edited version, it won't be an issue.

Since all this has gone on I have taken a better look at my books as a whole. I feel like I've made more mistakes.

My novella, Give Me My Destiny should have never been part of the series I started. I had called it the 3rd book in my series but it really should be the 1st book in a spin off series. (1st 2 books focus on the vampires, 3rd book focuses on the witches, all in the same city) So, since that book only has 1 review (4 stars on Goodreads, no written review) and has only sold about 3 copies, I have pulled it from being for sale. I'm going to get rid of the secondary title (Paranormal City book 3) and rerelease it as the 1st of a new series. Am I crazy for doing this? Will this have any negative affect on me? I know the cover will have to be reworked but that's not an issue. Neither is changing things on my website.

I just feel I need to do an overhaul on things and get myself on the right track! I've been feeling just so sick over all of this! I feel like I can't just leave things the way they are.

The only good thing, and really the only reason why I'm not just giving up totally, is that I have been contacted by readers who really loved my story. I have gotten compliments on my writing and story lines. Even some of the people who gave my book 2 stars said it was just because of editing!

What would you do if you were me? I'm open to any advice.

Thanks!