The Kindle version of ”The Bridge” is still $1.49 (1/2 off the regular price) at Amazon.com. So if you haven’t gotten a copy or know someone who might want a copy, now is the time.
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The final tally is in and 365 people took advantage of the chance to get the Kindle version of my paranormal/mystery novel “THE BRIDGE” for free. Hey, a reader for every day of the year… chuckle.
I’ve never done a free-book promo on Amazon before, so anyone with experience please let me know if this is a good number. I think so, but I like to hear other people’s thoughts.
Now I’m sure one of the big questions on the minds of some of you is, “Why did you give your book away for free? Don’t you want to make some money?”
The answer is simple. I wanted to increase my sales. Now I know this sounds like a contradiction, but hear me out. To date, only 100 copies of my novel had sold before this giveaway. And about 1/2 of those were actual sales over six months. I’ve had 10 reviews on Amazon and about 15 on Smashwords. Not bad numbers, but certainly not earth-shattering. I’ve had family and friends helping promote the book throughout their social networks. I’ve done press releases, sent out free copies to newspapers and radio stations. My sales ranking on Smashwords was impressive, but the sales were still not coming as strongly as I’d like. Why?
Not many people have ever heard of me. I’ve got ONE book to my name out there, just one. I’m still building my reputation and a following. In this day and age, a lot of people are very choosy about what they buy, even in e-books. So those who sell their works for .99 cents or less have a better chance at being grabbed up. Especially if you have a good tagline and cover. But sometimes even that’s not enough. Word of mouth is truly the biggest and greatest weapons we have to get our names out there. And that only happens if we get our work into the hands of more readers.
Now, I’ve read (in a number of places) that authors who’ve done the free e-book promos see increases in sales within the weeks/months that follow. Readers get hooked on what they’ve read and tell family, friends, and people in their social networks about it and get them excited enough to get their own copies. In turn they may fall in love with the book and tell even more people about it, thus perpetuating sales and building the author’s reputation.
So now I’ve taken the plunge. Now all I can do is wait and see what kind of results happen. I’ve already heard from one or two people who took advantage of the giveaway and was delighted to hear them say, “I don’t usually read this genre but the story has already sucked me in. I’m going to want to read the next one…” I’ve been told this before by other reviewers as well, which gives me hope for the future of my books. But more importantly, I’m hoping they will spread the word and get others to check it out.
I’ll keep you all posted on what happens next. As I said way back when I first started this blog, I’m going to share this journey with you all. My ups and downs, so hopefully you can avoid some of the pitfalls I landed up in. Success or failure, we learn from them. Hopefully, you can learn from mine.
In the meantime, the price has gone back to $1.49 which is still 1/2 off the usual price for the book. So if you haven’t gotten a copy yet or want to get one for someone else there’s still time to get it at 50% off. Have a great day…
****THERE IS STILL TIME TO GET YOUR FREE KINDLE COPY OF “THE BRIDGE” ON AMAZON****
Up to this moment 247 people have already claimed their copy of my paranormal/mystery. You have until midnight tonight (Pacific Standard Time) to get your free copy. And if you’ve already gotten yours, spread the word and so your family, friends and networks can get their copy. Psychics, cops, ghosts and a terrifying secret hidden away inside a three hundred year old bridge await you in this book. Come and learn how the Para-Earth series begins in this first installment. You’ll be glad you did.
Just in time for Father’s Day! The KINDLE version of my paranormal/mystery “THE BRIDGE” will be available for FREE on Amazon this weekend. Starting tomorrow 6/15 and ending at midnight on 6/16 you can get a free copy! So if you’re still looking for something for Dad, or a little something for yourself, here’s your chance to grab book #1 in the Para-Earth Series. Ghosts, psychics, police, and a three hundred year old stone bridge which holds a terrifying secret awaits you within the pages of this book which has received 4 and 5 star reviews.
So bookmark the link below and get your free copy during this weekend special. And spread the word to everyone you know about it. This book has captured the imaginations of customers who have said flat out that they normally don’t read this genre, but are eager for the next installment which will be coming in September.
Happy reading everyone…
Mr. Ray Bradbury died on June 5, 2012. It’s been a year since he left us with a legacy of books and stories, some of which have been made into movies and TV episodes (check out Ray Bradbury Theater on Amazon or YouTube). In this blog entry I’m not going to recap his life story. Mostly I’m going to share my own thoughts and feelings on the man from what I saw of him in his works.
Mr. Bradbury could capture the imagination in ways not many authors can. I’m a huge fan of his short story anthologies, as well as his more lengthy works. But it was those short stories that always captured my attention the most. I’ve not done many myself, but I’m hoping to expand eventually. I’m afraid I’m one of those authors who feels he has a big story to tell most of the time. Perhaps I just haven’t come up with the right character(s) to be the voice or focus of some short stories. I’ve got one or two in mind but I have to learn a bit more about who they are and what some of their short stories are like first.
But Mr. Bradbury’s style and ability to create characters and situations never ceased to amaze me. He could take us to other planets, some nice others not, and allow us to meet people who were people. They had foibles and shortcomings, a sense of duty, dreams, hopes, laughter and tears. He had a way of making us feel the depths of these characters emotions and make us ask “How would I handle a situation like that?” without even trying. Whether we were going to an alien planet with a cynical captain and discover that Jesus Christ had been seen there (title of the story is “The Man”), or a world that would literally love and grant you anything you wished but could turn hostile if you disrespected her (“Here There Be Tygers”), or even taking on the prospects of reverse racism (“The Other Shoe”), he could make the readers wonder about themselves and the world around them.
But he wasn’t just about science fiction. He could do contemporary with the best of them. His exploration into childhood could be very moving and evoke emotions from your past with the skill of a master. ”The Sound of Summer Running” is a short that really took me back to summer days and sneakers. How did a new pair of sneakers that were just right, feel to you? Did you could believe you would run faster or jump higher than ever before? What about the excitement of racing around in the front yards with your friends during those summer evenings, how did that used to feel for you? Did you play kick the can, or hide and go seek, as the evening shadows slowly stretched and night fell? I always loved to play then because the game became more interesting and exciting thanks to the added difficulty of the approaching dark. And he brought all this back to me in that one little story.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that he was brilliant at conveying the human experience (for good or for bad). There’s a charm to his work that can pull out emotions, memories or even contemplations from the reader. Part of this is because a lot of his characters are easy to relate to. You can almost see yourself or people you know in them, making you feel more at home with them.
So raise a glass of Dandelion Wine or whatever your preferred beverage is and offer up a thanks to a man who gave us so much. He’s left a lot of works behind for us to explore and enjoy, so if you get a chance to go to your local library check out a book or two of his. You’ll be glad you did.
ATTENTION ALL KINDLE READERS!
My paranormal mystery novel “THE BRIDGE” is now on sale for $1.49 on Amazon. Grab your copy while it’s at this new low price, because I don’t know how long it will last. There are reviews here as well as a chance to sample the book. So take advantage while you can.
Okay fellow writers, here’s a question for you all. How many of you find yourselves working and reworking a scene because something just isn’t right? In your mind, you know what you’d like to happen, but something just doesn’t seem to be working right. You make a change here, then a slight a tweek there and suddenly everything goes KAFLOOEY! You suddenly hit a dead end, or the entire plot has taken a detour to No-wheres-ville. When this happens to me, I get the same feelings I had whenever I tried to solve a Rubik’s Cube. I know all the parts and where I think they should go, but they’re just not in the right spot. And trying to get them in their proper place can be a nightmare some days.
Now this has happened to me on a number of occasions. Some people tell me to have an outline, but that never works for me. Why? Because my characters start going in other directions by saying or doing things I hadn’t originally planned. Admittedly I let them get away with it, but only if what they’re doing seems to be working better than what I originally planned. Sometimes this works, but not always. When it doesn’t I do one of two things: I’ll delete it completely and try again OR I’ll save the scene in a separate folder on my computer. You never know when an unused scene can be useful later in your present story, or could wind up being perfect for another book entirely.
Personally, I kind of like it when I can just delete the scene because then I get to point and laugh at my characters saying, “See? I told you this wasn’t going to work… NEENER-NEENER.” Unfortunately, I tend to do this out loud and get some really strange looks from anyone within a 30 foot radius. It’s at this point my unseen characters got to point and laugh right back at me, which is really annoying because they know I still need them and can’t kill them off. Damn, my creations can be annoying at times.
Anyway, getting back to my original point. Writing a scene can be quite frustrating and difficult at times. But, there are many ways of tackling this problem:
-You might change who’s in the scene, keep the ones who are most poignant and add someone else from the cast. This can change the tension levels and the entire feel of the moment.
-Change the location where the action is happening. Maybe the setting is the problem and you can get more out of a different location.
-Is a major piece of information about to be revealed in this scene? If so how much of it do you really have to unveil at this moment? Maybe you should only reveal a portion of the information. You can whet the appetite of both the characters and the audience with this method. By doing this your characters can go off half-cocked, which can make for some very interesting scenes as they make any number of mistakes or jump to wrong conclusions. I personally like this because the character who isn’t perfect, and learns from their mistakes, is someone the audience can really relate to sometimes. On the other hand the characters can aware that something is still missing and we can follow their efforts to learn more which can lead to some very tense and exciting scenes as well.
So, don’t be afraid to tear apart a scene that’s frustrating you. Try some really different ways of reworking it. And if you find yourself still hitting a wall, ask yourself if the scene is truly relevant in that particular point of the story. Maybe it can be replaced by an entirely different scene that can serve a similar purpose. Who knows, you may wind up with something that opens new avenues for your plot that are even more interesting than what you originally had in mind.
What other methods or tricks have you come up with? I’m sure everyone reading this would be interested because we’re all trying learn from one another when it comes to writing. So please leave your experiences and suggestions down in the comments section below.
And for the record,I did finally defeat the dreaded Rubik’s Cube. Mind you I did not remove the decals and change them around (which is something my wife did when she was kid). Nor did I take the cube apart and reassemble it so the colors matched up. What did I do? Simple, I spray painted the entire thing silver and used it for a paperweight. A very creative solution, don’t you think?
SIGNED TRADE PAPERBACK COPIES OF “THE BRIDGE” AVAILABLE FOR ONLY $10.00, LIMITED TIME!
These are not the 1st edition copies, these are the re-edited 2nd edition copies. Each one is $10.00 a piece, plus $3.00 shipping/handling in the United States. Anyone interested in getting one of these please let me know down in the comments section or e-mail me. Payments accepted through Paypal.
