Caught on Camera - Free Summer Read on Wattpad

by Madelle Morgan

Caught on Camera, my 55,000 word New Adult romantic comedy, was discovered by thousands of readers worldwide pre-publication. 

Wattpad.com, the social media site for aspiring and published writers, is the reason.

An unknown indie romance author has a very difficult time getting her books noticed in this new age of self-publishing. 

Building an e-mail list and followers can be a difficult, time-consuming and often expensive process. 

In this post, I'll describe how I went from four followers to over a hundred thousand followers on Wattpad, and why my awesome free read experience is one I will repeat with the second book in the Hollywood in Muskoka series.

I signed up on Wattpad.com in August, 2015 and started posting pre-copyedited scenes of Caught on Camera. Five months later, I had a grand total of four Wattpad followers. My book was ranked so low among thousands of stories it didn't even merit a number. No one could find it. 

Sound familiar?

Wattpad has three curated lists under each Discover/category tab: Hot, Featured, and Undiscovered. In January I submitted an on-line application to have Caught on Camera featured in the Discover/Romance category. It was featured starting mid-February, after I had posted approximately half the book.

As a condition of having my book featured, I agreed to leave the complete novel on the site for six months. "What do I have to lose?" I thought. My debut romantic suspense, Diamond Hunter, was never discovered despite good reviews, promo via KDP Select, deal sites, and Facebook ads, and eventually a permanent price of $0.99 USD. I crossed my fingers that I might gain a few readers via the Wattpad feature. Maybe a hundred followers. Optimistically two hundred.

Well, to my amazement, as of July I have more than 112,000 Wattpad followers from around the world! 

Granted, most followers wait until a story is complete to start reading. Over two thousand did read my chapters as they were posted weekly this spring, briefly pushing the book to #19 in Romance. Many readers commented with much appreciated feedback that made Caught on Camera a better story. I even added a sex scene due to popular demand!

Will many of those 112,000 followers buy the book when it's published, given that they had the opportunity to read it for free? That remains to be seen. I will advertise a special feature that is not in the final draft posted on Wattpad. However, having thousands of readers who can't wait to read Sex and the Screenwriter, Book 2 in the series, is a long way from four followers status!

I'll begin posting Book 2 scenes on Wattpad in the fall.


Caught on Camera Back Cover Copy

To achieve her dream of working on Hollywood film sets, star struck chambermaid Rachel Lehmann needs $35,000 for film school tuition by the end of the summer. When she's asked to fill in for a missing bridesmaid at a movie star's wedding, it's her big chance to secretly take candid photos of celebrities and sell them to the entertainment media. Then groomsman Mickey McNichol, agent to the stars, sweeps her off her feet.

Mickey cynically believes everyone in show business is out for what they can get. When he falls hard for the stand-in bridesmaid, he thinks he's finally met a beautiful woman he can trust. But if Rachel betrays the wedding party's privacy, Mickey will ensure she never works in Hollywood.

Caught on Camera is complete on Wattpad.com. I sent it to a copy editor last week, and it will be available on Amazon, Kobo, and iBooks in September. Meanwhile, treat yourself to a fun, sexy summer read. Sign up on Wattpad.com, follow Madelle Morgan, and read Caught on Camera for free.

Have a wonderful summer!

Madelle

Subscribe to MadelleMorgan.com and receive a free copy of her sexy short story, The Next Big Thing.

Madelle tweets and posts about Hollywood, filmmaking, the settings for her stories, and of course, writing. 

Follow Madelle on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Pinterest, and Wattpad. 

Summer's Coming...

by Madelle Morgan

Last week I typed THE END on my New Adult romantic comedy Caught on Camera! It's the first in my Muskoka series of contemporary romances about men and women in the film-making industry who fall for locals in a beautiful lake district.

The series premise - "Hollywood in cottage country" - is aimed at those interested in learning about the various professions in the entertainment business, in the context of love stories.

I actually wrote the second in the series first. Sex & the Screenwriter tells the story of one of the secondary characters in Caught on Camera, so the two books will be released back-to-back. If the editing process goes smoothly, both will be late summer reads on Amazon. I plan to write the third, Director's Pick, over the summer and fall.

Caught on Camera has a Cinderella theme. Here's a snapshot:

To achieve her dream of working on Hollywood film sets, starstruck chambermaid Rachel Lehmann needs $35,000 for film school tuition by the end of the summer. When she's asked to fill in for a missing bridesmaid at a movie star's wedding, it's her big chance to take candid photos of celebrities and sell them to the entertainment media. Then groomsman Mickey McNichol, agent to the stars, sweeps her off her feet.

Mickey's bitter experience is that everyone in show business fakes emotions. When he falls for the stand-in bridesmaid, he thinks he's finally met a beautiful woman he can trust. But if Rachel betrays his friends' privacy, Mickey will ensure she never works in Hollywood.

Rachel  Image Credit

Excerpt

   Rachel stood in front of the Bridal Suite's floor-length mirror dressed in a pale lilac strapless, tea-length chiffon gown with fitted bodice. One part of her basked in the image of herself in the exquisite dress, and the other part fretted about falling behind schedule. She kept one eye on the digital bedside clock, and the other on the ball of white fur rolling over her black uniform on the unmade bed. 

   “I need to call the Housekeeper, Ms. Kane. I have rooms to clean.”

   “Wanda will take care of that,” the bride-to-be said airily. She turned to her personal assistant. “Inform the hotel manager that I need Rachel until Sunday.”

   “Right away.” The PA bolted for the exit.

   “We booked the entire hotel for the wedding,” assured the tall, slender woman with a medley of blonde highlights in waist-length hair. “What the bride wants, the bride gets. Relax and show me a few smiles. Mouth open. Mouth closed. You know the drill.”

   “Drill?”

   “Your smile for the wedding photos. I need to approve it.” She grabbed Rachel’s bare shoulders and twisted her around to face the mirror.

   Rachel obliged, although the situation felt more surreal by the second.

   Ms. Kane tapped a scarlet, French-tipped nail against her chin. “Mouth closed, I think. Yes, a sweet but sexy smile puts the focus on your big brown eyes.”

   Meanwhile, reflected in the mirror the tiny white dog’s devilish black eyes stared straight at Rachel’s backside. To her horror she noticed a dark stain spreading out from under its butt and over her uniform. “Oh my gods. Your dog just urinated on the bed!”

   “Did she?” Ms. Kane’s good humor restored, she merely glanced at her pet sitting innocently beside a puddle rapidly disappearing through Rachel’s uniform into the eight hundred thread count Egyptian cotton duvet cover. “Bad Mopette,” she cooed. “It’s Wanda’s fault. She’s supposed to walk you every couple of hours. The maid will clean it up.”

   “I’m the maid!”

   “Not anymore you’re not. This weekend you are my bridesmaid. A cousin on my mother’s side from... from...”

   “Toronto,” Rachel supplied.

   “Right, Toronto, Canada. Where they have that international film festival.”

   “And the largest city in Canada,” Rachel added dryly.

   But Candy Kane’s mind was already on a different track. “Don’t you dare tell any of the guests you work here.” Candy swiped fingers across her mouth in a zipping motion. “There’s a big tip in it if you keep the secret and pull this off.”

   “How big?” Rachel wanted to ask, but kept her “sweet but sexy” lips clamped shut. Truthfully, a tip wasn’t the prime reason she’d jumped at the miraculous opportunity to be Ms. Kane’s bridesmaid. A shiver of excitement rippled across exposed skin. Her good fortune to be conscripted into the Kane-Armstrong wedding party and have access to their guests felt like a dream. She pinched herself. Then her mood plunged as the awful truth hit her. She’d tucked the camera pendant into the pocket of her pee-drenched uniform.

To be notified when Caught on Camera is published, 99 cent deals, giveaways and more, subscribe to my blog at www.MadelleMorgan.com or like my Facebook page.

Muskoka: Canada’s Premiere Summer Playground

by Madelle Morgan

"We're going to the cottage." Magic words in my childhood.

I was very fortunate to have grandparents who owned a waterfront summer home in one of the most scenic, ruggedly beautiful lake districts in the world - Muskoka, Ontario Canada, where generations of families have vacationed for over a hundred years.

Two hour drive north of Toronto, Canada

The National Geographic Traveler magazine chose Muskoka as one of Best of The World - Must-see places for 2012. To my knowledge, no other romance author has set her books in Muskoka. To much of the world it's a hidden gem. Therefore I decided to locate my new series of contemporary romance novellas in the cottage country I love so much. 

As a child and teen, I enjoyed nineteen summers at my grandparents’ sprawling cottage near Honey Harbour on Georgian Bay. My three sisters and friends spent lazy sunny days water skiing, reading, swimming and sunning... until we were old enough to obtain summer jobs, that is. Then the fun took on a whole new dimension!

Summer jobs in a vacation destination are THE BEST. Let’s just say the fun involved boys! And late night parties! And trysts in boathouses... but you can read about that in my upcoming novellas.

Sadly the cottage had to be sold after my grandfather’s death. Muskoka prices skyrocketed well out of the affordable-to-ordinary-people range, and no one in the family could buy it. My relations have since spread across Ontario, but Muskoka is still where we gather. My sisters and I jointly rent a large cottage for a family week in July or August.

Cottages in Muskoka range from bare bones (no electricity or running water on a rocky island)... 

.... to palatial four season homes owned by the fabulously wealthy, including many Hollywood celebrities who value their privacy far from the paparazzi. 

Below is a boathouse with guest quarters above. The main cottage is hidden in the trees!

Muskoka Boathouse - HouseandHome.com

The first in my Muskoka series, Caught on Camera, is a romantic comedy with a Cinderella trope.

To fulfill her dream of working on Hollywood film sets, star struck chambermaid Rachel Lehmann needs $35,000 for film school tuition by the end of the summer. When she’s asked to fill in for a missing bridesmaid at a movie star’s wedding, it’s her big chance to take candid photos of celebrities and sell them to the gossip magazines. Then groomsman Mickey McNichol, agent to the stars, sweeps her off her feet.

Mickey’s bitter experience is that everyone in show business fakes emotions. When he falls for the stand-in bridesmaid, he thinks he’s finally met a beautiful woman he can trust. But if Rachel betrays his friends’ privacy, Mickey will ensure she never works in Hollywood.

My first summer job was – you guessed it – as a chambermaid at the Delawana Inn in Honey Harbour.

Not that I can afford to stay here myself, but the exclusive Windermere House in Muskoka is the inspiration for the fictional Sterling Inn and Spa where the wedding takes place.

WindermereHouse.com

Over the years the extended family has loved many dogs, and their personalities will live on in my Muskoka books!

Rudy at Peninsula Lake, Muskoka

View more Muskoka pics on my Pinterest Board.

I'm hard at work writing the Muskoka series, and aim to release the first two — Caught on Camera & Sex and the Screenwriter — in fall 2014. 

Stay tuned!

Madelle

www.madellemorgan.com

Madelle's Self-Publishing Strategy

Madelle Morgan

Last year I decided to relaunch my writing career and self-publish. I had to make several decisions; i.e., what sub-genre to focus on, the length, the series setting, the target market, the distribution, the formats, branding, the marketing approach (including pricing), editor and cover artist selection, and on and on...

The publishing industry is evolving so quickly. What’s an author to do when the ground keeps shifting? What was good advice three months ago is contradicted by other authors’ recent experience. That being said, I found a few e-resources super helpful. The Naked Truth About Self-Publishing, by The Indie Voice, a collective of ten bestselling romance authors, was very informative. The e-book How We Made our First Million on Kindle by Bob Mayer and Jen Talty caught my eye, because who doesn’t want to make a lot of money?

After countless hours of reading and listening to many well-informed romance authors and publishing experts over several months, my decisions were informed by these pearls of advice, in no particular order of importance:

• Series are hot.

• Have three or four books in a series available right away. Don’t make readers wait too long for the next one.

• The more product authors have out there, the better the sales and impact on distributor algorithms.

• Plan for but don’t expect overnight success.

Amazon has invested heavily in audio books. It owns Audible.com, which in turn owns Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX.com).

• Amazon’s WhisperSync for Voice makes an audio version easily available to readers who buy the e-book.

• Audible.com prices audio books by length. Shorter is more affordable.

• In 2012 ACX.com gave self-published authors the opportunity to create and publish audio books.

My strategy, you ask? I plan to self-publish a series of hot contemporary romance novellas set in a beautiful lake district. In 2014 I resolve to release three novellas back-to-back in e-book and print, and follow that with audio versions. I’ve completed the first, Sex and the Screenwriter, and have started to write Caught on Camera, with Director’s Pick on deck. 

I’ve mapped out several more in the series in blocks of three to facilitate boxed sets, and have enough books planned to keep me busy for five years.

This strategy assumes audio is going to be very popular as prices become more affordable.

Readers, how likely is it that you will take advantage of the opportunity to buy the audio version along with the e-book?

Self-published authors, are you planning to publish audio books?

Find Madelle at www.madellemorgan.com and on Goodreads.