Sneaky Writers Win

Yesterday I reviewed the book, The Mind Readers by Lori Brighton. I picked up Ms. Brighton's book late one night when I was having trouble falling asleep. I clicked that little shopping cart  icon and when I got to Amazon searched "free" in the book category.  I like paranormal books and this one had good reviews.

I got a free book, YAY!

The book was good. The story ended, there was closure, but also the possibility of another adventure for the main character. The last pages showed me the additional books this writer had so back to Amazon I went.

This time I paid for the book and the writer made money.

I've read that Hugh Howey saw his book, Wool, was selling so that smart man turned it into a series. BAM! He's a best seller! Of course the writing has to be good.

David Rosenfelt is another writer with a lawyer series. All stand alones, but with the same main character. One free book and I came back for the others.

There's always been a lot of controversy over whether or not a writer should give away their books for free. I've run campaigns where I put my book up for free and saw a spurt of downloads. A review or two came back, but nothing to write home (or here) about. However, my books aren't a series so there was probably no reason to use the free book hook to suck in new readers.  Live and learn.

Conclusion? If you have a series offering the first in the series for free could hook new readers. Otherwise? eh.

The Mind Readers by Lori Brighton - A Review

There's nothing better for insomnia than having a Kindle. Finish one book, surf Amazon for another. I may not be getting any sleep but at least I'm entertained. 

I found Mind Readers by Lori Brighton on Amazon when I searched for free books. Since the main character, Cameron,  is in high school when the story starts I think that classifieds this as a young adult book. Although I can no longer claim the "young" part, I still loved this book. 

Cameron starts off with that semi-innocence of the typical teenager, insecurities, attracted to boys, but her turmoil is doubled since she can hear the thoughts of those around her. Sometimes a good thing, sometimes it adds to her anxiety. These parts are very well written without being overblown. 

The action begins when a classmate is murdered and the main character searches the minds around her to see who did it. The story is well paced and keeps us guessing just enough to turn the page. 

When Cameron discovers other mind readers who promise to teach her to control her powers, she goes with them. Soon Cameron discovers the people she thought wanted to help her, could just be using her. 

Good writing and a well paced plot, I give this book five stars. As soon as I finished I went back and picked up the second in the series. 

Facebook Ads or Boost Post

The facebook ad was a NO SALE!
Although I did have a few click throughs they went to nowhere-land.
Money invested $10.
Ad length of ad one week.
Books sold? Zero

Experiment over.
Did my ad suck and no one wanted to look? Was it not engaging enough? Was my audience too narrow? Is $10 not enough to take a fb ad anywhere? Or is facebook just not a great place to sell books? Anyone out there have any luck with facebook ads?

My next try will probably be something like Pixels of Ink or one of the book blasters. A blog tour? I have to do some research on this subject. Set a budget and do another round of something that's not Facebook. Until then I'm back to the writer's cave and my  WIP and maybe the NANO and will get the fun part of this author thing done.

Strangely, after I decided to give up on the NANO I got this great idea of where to take the story. :)

Google: Facebook Ads for Indie Authors

If you put "Facebook ads for Indie Authors" into a search you get a lot of hits. Everyone has advice on how to promote your book on Facebook and I think I'm going to have to save this research for Saturday morning and coffee. I know I'm going to want to take notes.

Right now my facebook report says I've reached 453. However my page views for my author fb page says 671. I'm guessing this sudden page view phenomenon is connected somehow to the ad.  So I guess I should go write something witty and awesome on that page to keep them coming back.
Bottom line; No Sales. :(

Facebook Ad Update

Impulsive Facebook Ad

Yesterday I posted a link on facebook to a blog post I did from my website about why I wrote Soul Mates and how the idea came from the dogs I've helped to rescue. (I work as a foster family and foster homeless dogs until a good family can be found.) It was kind of a sloppy post. All I did was put the link on fb and the photo popped in with the title of the blog post. No big deal.

Then this morning a little thing popped up on FB that said, "Boost your Post."

I checked my paypal account and found 12 bucks. So I flipped back to the FB tab and hit the button. I figured its kind of like a lottery ticket. Sometime you win, but probably not. Either way I haven't done any promoting in a few months so what the heck. I was planning on waiting till after the holidays to create a budget and make a plan. (Hopefully, my current WIP, -not the NANO one-  but Threshold of Midnight, will be up by then)

I clicked all the buttons to set up the FB ad; one week for $10. Yeah! I'm a big spender! Unlike last time when I made the book free,  Soul Mates, is up for its regular prices. Kindle $1.99 and Paperback $6.99.
So since this morning I've got a big 3 click-throughs and no sales.
Unfortunately, since this blog was set up on a free Wix site I have no analytics to see if anyone actually went to the site. I should go to google to see if I can add it.

I'll post the results every couple days. This is from Facebook;

Slow Go for NANOWRIMO?

I get depressed when I look at my NANO word count. Then I visit the NANOWRIMO facebook page and see I'm not the only slow poke. Lots are faster/further than I and lots are with me or behind me.

Hey! At least I got something down on paper. Now if I only had more hours in the day.

Usually, when i write something I kind of have an idea where the story is going. Maybe I don't know everything, but I know most. Sometimes I get the ending before the beginning.

This NANO I took one sentence that I scribbled down a few months ago and decided that would be my start. I tucked that little piece of paper under the arm of my Edgar Allen Poe action figure and refused to look at it until November 1st. When I finally looked....nothing came to me. However, in the spirit of NANO I forged ahead and just started writing. Now, 6000 words in I still don't know what to do with this story. Edgar has been no help. ;)

I spent an hour last night changing the main characters names. Then changing them again. Googling names by country and by popularity and basically wasted the night. I think that was my sub-conscience's goal. Waste time and hope to write SOMETHING.

When I get stuck I usually stop and think; How can I torture my main character?
A strange phone call in the night? Meet a creepy neighbor? Discover something bizarre and off the main point of the story. (What if you were investigating a murder and in the process discovered something really weird about someone you thought you knew?)  Would I want to keep that in the story later? Who knows! But I'm going for a word count here, baby! 50,000 by November 30th! That's 18 more panic filled days of writing.

It's after nine and I have to work in the morning...that real-life-gotta-eat-job that so interrupts my writing time. Come on! Let's NANO!

So??? How's that NANOWRITMO gig treating you? What's your word count?