Treat Yourself to a Holiday Deal

by Madelle Morgan

December is the month for indulgences. The rich appetizers, traditional meals, calorie-loaded drinks, boxes of chocolates, and especially the delicious holiday baking can sure pack on the pounds.

Here's what my sister-in-law set before me. Who can resist? Not me...

However, there is absolutely no downside to indulging in seasonal ebook deals. You may have noticed the surge in giveaways and 99 cent book deals this month?

You know those advent calendars with a little chocolate treat behind each "door" for each day up to December 24? I loved these daily treats when I was a kid and continued the tradition by buying one for my son every December.

Author Pam Workman had the brilliant idea to create an advent calendar for ebooks—one or two free or 99 cent books each day written by various authors. Pam also offers a free ebook.

P.D. Workman, Author

Discover a new author or authors every day from December 1 to Christmas Eve. The books cross all genres, including romance, so there's something for every reader. Here's the link to Pam's calendar. 

Although this post is dated December 12, many of the earlier deals may still be in effect. Be sure to click on all the little doors December 1 to 24 to find books that interest you. If a deal is no longer available via Pam's calendar, search for it on Amazon. 

Don't forget to check every day for a new deal from a different author. I'm enjoying this 99 cent boxed set.

All the best to you and yours.

Happy Holidays!

Madelle

**************************************

Madelle Morgan is a Canadian author who writes romance set in Canada. 

Caught on Camera is a Hollywood wedding romance set in Muskoka, Canada—summer playground of the rich and famous. It's Book 1 of the Hollywood in Muskoka series.

 Amazon | iTunes | Kobo

Seduced by the Screenwriter is Book 2 in the series. For a limited time this hot contemporary romance is available on Amazon for $0.99 and a free read for Kindle Unlimited subscribers.

Madelle's romantic thriller Diamond Hunter is available on Amazon in Kindle Unlimited.

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

Free & Bargain Book Ads—Part 1, Subscription Services

by Madelle Morgan

How does a reader discover a good romance novel among the gazillions of ebooks flooding the market? On the other side of the coin, how can indie authors get their books noticed by readers?

Advertising is the time-proven mechanism to attract buyers, but 20th century approaches—print and television ads—have limited reach in the Internet age. Authors fight for the attention of readers via three providers of relatively inexpensive ad space that reaches ebook buyers worldwide:

• Services that provide daily lists of free and bargain books.
• Amazon
• Facebook

In this post I describe ads in e-newsletters that provide curated lists to subscribers. 

That is, a reader subscribes to receive daily lists of free and bargain books via email.

The digital newsletters offer each subscriber a list of books that is customized to stated preferences. 

An author pays to have her book included in the e-newsletter—the ad.

The more popular an e-newsletter is, the better for the reader. Look at it this way: an e-newsletter doesn't retain subscribers by recommending poorly-written books. For example, hugely popular BookBub.com carefully screens books for inclusion in daily newsletters that arrive in millions of readers' inboxes.

A site with a hundred thousand or more subscribers can be selective in accepting books for the e-newsletter, and authors will pay more for the privilege. Selection criteria may include good covers, 4 & 5 star reviews, availability on several sales platforms (Amazon, Apple, Kobo, Nook), bestseller status, and popularity of the book's sub-genre, trope or niche. 

Romance readers enjoy books with seasonal themes such as holidays, Valentine's Day, summer weddings, etc., so an appropriately-themed book has an improved chance of being accepted at certain times of the year.

BookBub Ads

For an author, having a book selected for a BookBub email is the brass ring, but it's expensive. Per BookBub's featured deals pricing and statistics page on December 27, 2016, a one-day $367 USD ad for a free contemporary romance would generate an average of 40,000 downloads. You may wonder why an author would pay so much to give away 40,000 ebooks? Well, the author hopes to profit if and when readers of the free book proceed to buy her other books.

Similarly, a one-day ad for a 99 cent contemporary romance would cost the author a whopping $734 USD, and would sell an average of 3,100 books. At a royalty rate of 0.35, the author would earn an estimated $1,085, for a net profit of $351. Note that these are statistically average figures. Losses or greater profits are possible.

Other Bargain Sites

In comparison to BookBub pricing, another bargain site might charge only $35 for a one-day ad, which appears to be a much better deal for the author. However, the $35 ad is less likely to reach as many readers, or generate as much of a profit.

Authors should therefore investigate a site's number of newsletter subscribers before deciding whether to invest in an ad. BookBub's approach is the gold standard. It breaks down the number of U.S. or international subscribers by book category.

Below is a partial list of bargain sites I've come across. If you know of others, please add them in the Comments section.

The Fussy Librarian
Robin Reads
The Elite Reader
The Naughty List
Romance Reads
Many Books
BookHippo.uk
Read Cheaply
Bargain Booksy
Free Booksy
Ereader News Today
BookBub.com

Checking out these sites can fill up your ereader fast! In researching this post, I downloaded several free books.

The Big Question: Do Ads Work?

Readers, what is your go-to source for discovering bargain or free books? Do you subscribe to any discount or free book e-newsletters? If so, which are your favorites?

Authors, in your experience, how profitable are paid ads in these e-newsletters compared to other marketing options? What's your most successful marketing tactic?

In Part 2, I'll address Amazon ads for romance novels.

Happy New Year!

Madelle

My Bargain Book—For a Limited Time

Amazon, Kobo, Apple Buy links: MadelleMorgan.com

Caught on Camera, a New Adult romantic comedy, is available for 99 cents/ 99P through January, 2017.

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

Subscribe to her blog at MadelleMorgan.com and follow her on  Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Pinterest, and Wattpad.

Editing Your Book, Part 3 Copy Editing

by Madelle Morgan

Copy editing. Copyediting. Copy-editing. 

Which is correct? Answers will differ, depending on the editing style guide used. 

Copy editors go though manuscripts word by word, and their job is not simply to correct spelling and grammar.

After the developmental edit (See Part 1) and the polish (see Part 2), I contract out copy editing to a professional. The first question to ask when requesting a quote is which style guide she or he prefers.

Choose the Style Guide for Your Book

Editors may select from several editing style guides for the English language. The goal of a style guide is to ensure consistency within a manuscript, or across all books published by a particular publisher. A style guide addresses: spelling; grammar; dates; times; italics; capitalization; titles; punctuation including hyphens (three types); formatting (such as this list); numbers (spell it out or use numerals); and much more.

In the United States (abbreviated U.S. or US depending on the style guide), The Chicago Manual of Style is one of the most widely used. Some publishers may adapt a style guide to use for in-house editing of their publications.

The British have several style guide choices. Canadians tend to choose between The Canadian Style: A Guide to Writing and Editing, or an American style guide, depending on the nationality of the majority of the readership. One important consideration for Canadian authors is that American readers are accustomed to American spelling. Canadian/British spelling may appear to be typos. Examples of Canadian spelling include modelling, honour, and centre instead of the American modeling, honor, and center. 

Then there are the dozens of words with multiple spellings; e.g., fore, for, and four, or your, you're and yore. Spell check software doesn't know which you intended to use. Copy editors are trained to watch for these spelling variations.

A style guide will provide guidance on how to handle foreign words. Should ingénue have an accent? Should it be italicized? Not according my copy editor for Caught on Camera. The style guide she used considers the word ingenue to be one of the many foreign words absorbed into the English language.

To illustrate how complex and seemingly arbitrary these arcane rules can be, a style guide dictated how to address the song and film titles in Caught on Camera's playlist. Here's how the first track was edited:

"Train on a Track," performed by Kelly Rowland, from the film Maid in Manhattan.

The rationale, to paraphrase my copy editor who used The Chicago Manual of Style, is that shorter works, such as song titles, are set in quotation marks. Longer works, such as an album name or book title, are set in italics. Who knew there was a difference? Not me, before the copy edit.

Style guides don't cover everything. A copy editor will present the author with a manuscript marked up with an overwhelming number of proposed changes/edits, including his or her own preferences. It's up to the author to accept or reject each change.

I overroad style rules for some compound words that, to my eye, are more readable when hyphenated; e.g., I retained post-traumatic rather than change to posttraumatic, but agreed with the change to makeup rather than make-up.

Sentence Structure & Errors

Copy editors will normally identify and suggest changes for problematic sentences and dialogue, lack of clarity, paragraph breaks, inconsistencies (e.g., the hero's eye color changes), and structural weaknesses that were not caught in your revisions or by beta readers. Be sure to ask a prospective copy editor what s/he includes in the price quoted.

Do You Need a Copy Editor?

You may believe that your grammar and punctuation is excellent—oops, that should be are excellent—did you catch that? You may figure your readers care about the story, and will not notice the trivial errors a copy editor painstakingly corrects. However, the bottom line is this:

Do you want the quality of your published work—your legacy—to be comparable to that of traditionally-published books?

Professional editing raises the apparent quality of the career-focused indie author's work, as does a professionally-designed cover. Caught on Camera is my September release. As I promote it on various websites, I've been asked by a couple of site owners if the novel was professionally-edited. When I entered it in the Romance Writers of America RITA contest, short contemporary romance category, I was required to supply the editor's name. I'm careful to include my editors' names in my books' acknowledgements.

It appears that professional editing is becoming a quality benchmark for indie-published books, as in:

Good cover? Check.
Four and five star reviews? Check.
High sales rank in an Amazon category? Check.
Professional editing? Check.

Finally, copy editing won't transform a poorly-written story into a great one. However, a copy edit guarantees that oh-so-important reviews will be focused on the story, not jarring typos and grammar mistakes which take a reader out of the story.

Caught on Camera Blog Tour November 21-December 2

On this two-week blog tour there'll be interviews, reviews, guest posts with the inside scoop on the book, playlist and the rest of the series, and Rafflecopter ebook giveaways at each stop. US, Canada and UK residents may enter for a chance to win the grand prize—a Muskoka T-shirt, a movie clapboard, and a print copy of Caught on Camera. 

Subscribe to MadelleMorgan.com or like my Facebook author page where you can join the event to be reminded of each stop on the tour and the daily giveaways. 

Caught on Camera is 99 cents / 99P for the promo period!

Author Bio

Madelle Morgan is the author of Caught on Camera, a New Adult romantic comedy, and Diamond Hunter, a romantic suspense about diamond smuggling inspired by her years as a young engineer in Canada's far north. Retired from a career in the public service, she lives with her husband in Ottawa, Canada's capital, visits beautiful Muskoka every summer, and watches too much TV.

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

Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Pinterest | Wattpad | MadelleMorgan.com

Top Seven Reasons Readers Follow Authors

by Madelle Morgan

We all know that readers receive several benefits from following authors, or why else would they do it!

Photo Credit: Flickr

By "follow", I mean either click the follow button on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Goodreads, etc., and/or subscribe to newsletters or blog posts.

Which of the reasons below best represents why you follow authors?

Love the Books

The #1 reason is that I love the books... and by extension their authors.

It's All About the Books

Following an author keeps me updated on cover reveals, pre-order announcements, reviews, series lists, available formats and purchasing options, and other information that helps me decide whether to buy the latest book or other books by that author.

Additional Content

I loved the story so much that I want more! I enjoy extra content such as deleted scenes, character interviews, Pinerest inspiration boards, maps of the fictional world, and music playlists. It's all about the books, not the authors.

Read for Free (or Nearly Free)

I follow because I want to be alerted to the author's bargain books and deals, paperback giveaways, ebook promo codes, and opportunities to beta read the author's next book before it's published.

Free Stuff

I enter contests and giveaways and attend Facebook parties to win gift cards and other gifts, collect swag, and learn about special perks like access to conference parties. To get more of this, I might join a street team.

Social Media Interaction

I enjoy the day-to-day interaction with favorite authors. By reading, liking and commenting on their frequent, often daily, posts of photos, writing updates, glimpses of personal life, shared Facebook posts/retweets, I get to know the authors better. 

It's so easy to connect via Twitter, Facebook, email/messages, etc. Besides, it's entertaining: the authors are interesting, recommend good books, or make me laugh. It's all about developing relationships with the authors.

Blog Posts & Newsletters

I subscribe to weekly, monthly or occasional newsletters and blog posts because I don't have time every day to follow on social media all the authors I love. (I'm too busy reading in my free time!) 

To ensure I don't miss anything important, I subscribe to an author's newsletter or blog. This is how I keep up to date on personal and writing topics, new releases, conference attendance, book signings and other topics.

Readers, Why Do You Follow an Author?

What motivates you to click that follow button or subscribe to an author's newsletter or blog? If your #1 reason is that you Love the Books, what's #2?  Do you have a reason that's not mentioned?

Please comment! I'd love to hear your views.

Madelle

Bio:

Madelle writes romantic suspense and contemporary romance novels set in wild, beautiful Canada.

Available now for $0.99 on Kobo and Amazon:  Diamond Hunter's geologist heroine and her cop bodyguard are ensnared by a deadly diamond smuggling op in Canada's Arctic. 

Coming in 2016: Caught on Camera, #1 in the Hollywood in Muskoka series. Read the first four chapters of this romantic comedy, contemporary romance.

Madelle tweets and posts about dogs, Hollywood, film-making, the settings for her stories, and, of course, writing. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter, or subscribe to her blog at MadelleMorgan.com.

Free, New, and Charity by Paty Jager

This month at RTG is shout out for charities. And I believe charity begins at home.

My gift to readers is my first historical western romance, Marshal in Petticoats, is now available for free permanently. 

After accidentally shooting a bank robber, Darcy Duncan becomes marshal of a town as accident prone as herself.  Darcy’s taken care of her younger brother the last five years, and she’s not about to take orders from a corrupt mayor or a handsome drifter, whose curiosity could end her career as a marshal and take away their security.

Gil Halsey is looking for his boss’s son who is riding with outlaws. Taking the young man back to the ranch will seal the foreman’s job. When he discovers the town’s new marshal is a passionate woman with high regard for family and being framed for a bank heist, he has to has to decide which is the better future—the feisty woman or the ranch.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Marshal-Petticoats-Halsey-Brother-Book-ebook/dp/B004W9C2II

Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/marshal-in-petticoats-paty-jager/1101744510

Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/marshal-in-petticoats

Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/marshal-in-petticoats/id858169882

Windtree Press: http://windtreepress.com/portfolio/marshall-in-petticoats/

I have a new short story release:

This short story has anthropologist Isabella Mumphrey excited about spending her first Christmas with her Venezuelan DEA agent boy friend. The two met in the Guatemala Jungle in Secrets of a Mayan Moon. They found their missions intersecting in Secrets of an Aztec Temple. This Christmas story takes place before Isabella meets with her aunt at the Hopi Reservation and becomes entangled in Hopi myths and human slavery in Secrets of a Hopi Blue Star.

Secrets of a Christmas Box

Isabella’s plans of a wonderful Christmas are thwarted when her father hands her a World Intelligence Agency mission. He allows Tino to help her with the mission, so they can be together. As the days hasten to Christmas can she decipher the wooden cube she’s been handed or will her first Christmas with Tino be a bust? 

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Christmas-Box-Isabella-Adventure-ebook/dp/B00XCZ60OA

And now for charity: 

I've been a part of a group of authors who write a round-robin story for fun. There has always been a theme to each story. This year we decided the theme will be wounded military heroes and heroines. We will publish the stories when they are finished and the proceeds will to to Pets for Vets. Our stories will have pets in them along with veterans trying to piece their lives back together. The group is called Written Fireside. 

The first story starts June 23rd. You can follow the progress of the story at :

http://writtenfireside.blogspot.com/

This is the site for Pets for Vets http://www.pets-for-vets.com/about-the-program/

patyjager.net

Writing into the Sunset

Scouting for Good Books?

By Linda Lovely

Who doesn’t want to take advantage of something that’s free?

Readers who enjoy Kindle ebooks have tons of opportunities to download free books. Now they have one more—Amazon’s Kindle Scout program (https://kindlescout.amazon.com/).

Here’s how it works. Readers visit the site and peruse prospective titles in their favorite genres (romance, mystery, science fiction, general literature) by clicking on a book cover and reading a short blurb about the book. If it sounds interesting, they can read the book’s opening chapters. Then, if they think they’d like to read the whole book, they can “nominate” it for an Amazon publishing contract, and if Amazon elects to publish it, they’ll get their copy of the chosen title free. However, during any given time period, readers can only nominate three books. That keeps folks from clicking on every title in their preferred genres. In theory, this selection process provides a curator service. Only the best books of the lot gain publication.

Okay, what’s in it for authors? If Amazon chooses to publish their books, they get a $1,500 advance, 50% ebook royalty, and hopefully, a promotional boost from Amazon marketing. That’s why I’m considering offering my new book, LIES, to the Kindle Scout program. Of course, that doesn’t mean Amazon will choose LIES as one of its offerings. Who knows what criteria they use to select Kindle Scout titles, but I’m certain there are many factors unrelated to book quality (just like there are in traditional publishing) that go into decision making. For instance, if they’ve just put up two vampire related titles in the Sci Fi, Fantasy category, they might bypass an even better vampire book for the sake of variety.

Many authors, me included, are somewhat gun shy about programs like Kindle Scout because they are in essence popularity contests and we don’t like begging friends, family, and fellow authors to nominate our books to get the ball rolling. However, the potential promise of Amazon promotion is a powerful incentive. Plus, if your book doesn’t win an Amazon contract, you can go right ahead with your previous plans to independently publish the title. The only downside is that all those friends you begged to nominate you now know that your book “lost.” Will that influence their willingness to spend money to buy the book? Who knows?

Free books can be a curse or a bonanza for authors, who often offer books for free (or next to free) in the hope that if new readers sample one of their books and like it, they’ll buy their other books. It’s the age-old loss leader strategy. Authors even pay promotional bundlers for the privilege of offering their books free. The problem is that many readers have become so accustomed to downloading books for free that they no longer see a need to buy any books. In other instances, readers have downloaded so many free books it may be months—maybe years—before they actually read the free books they download today. In this case, the author “payback” of such readers buying their other books may take so long, they’ve given up on a writing career.

Nonetheless, we authors are a determined lot. I’m willing to give Kindle Scout a try. If they choose to put up LIES, you may well be hearing from me with a “Please consider nominating” plea.

So authors and readers, how do you feel about “free” ebooks?

THE VISCOUNT'S COUNTERFEIT WIFE by J. Jade Jordan

THE VISCOUNT'S
COUNTERFEIT WIFE

Good morning!

I’m Jade and I’ve been graciously invited to talk to you about my first book, The Viscount’s Counterfeit Wife, a regency historical that was digitally self-published in late July and has just recently become available in print.  I’m going to let one of my characters, Foster, do the talking for a bit before I come back to tell you about myself.  He likes to run things!

Let me introduce myself, I’m Foster, officially I’m butler and general factotum to Miss Talia Lawton, clandestine artist and newly arrived visitor to London but, unofficially, I’m a shoulder-to-cry-on, her partner-in-crime and the closest thing to a father she has.  Or, as Miss Tally calls me, her “Guardian Angel”, though I look more like a weathered garden gnome than any angel you could imagine.

I won’t even bother you with the tale of how we had to break into the house we’ve rented ‘cuz the key wouldn’t fit.  Our second mishap concerns Monsieur Moreau, Missy’s mentor — he’s vanished!  And every time we set foot outside, another misfortune occurs, narrowly missing killing Miss Tally.  Mere “accidents”, she thinks but, as I told her, no one is that unlucky.

And then last night a man climbed in her bedroom window!  What brass!  But Missy ain’t no wilting flower.  Heh, heh…  She shot him with her pistol.  You should ‘av seen all the blood!  Unfortunately, she only winged the blasted man on the shoulder.  Thing is, he must have heard the trigger and dived to avoid the bullet and hit his head on a solid oak dresser.  Knocked his senses clear out of his head… or so he says.  I was all for throwing him out in the street, but Miss Tally wouldn’t hear of it.  Soft heart, she has.  Hope it doesn’t turn out she’s being soft-headed too.

So there he is in the guest bedroom, lying comfy as a Lord, being waited on mostly by Missy.  She doesn’t want me climbing the stairs so much.  I got arturitis and my legs pain me something awful.  See what a kind heart she has!

I confess, my biggest worry now is when things become too quiet up there in that bedroom!  I sure hope I can convince her to leave dirty, dangerous London and go back home soon... before she no longer can.

J. JADE JORDAN

Now back to me, Jade, although I can’t claim to be as interesting as Foster and Missy!  I’m a freelance writer and member of the Romance Writer’s Association of America.  I came late to the reading, loving and writing of historical regency novels.  Now, that’s all I can think of writing!  

The first book in my upcoming series, The Brotherhood of Spares, debuts later this year and is tentatively called Luke’s Book: The Misplaced Lady.  You will meet a few of the Spares in The Viscount’s Counterfeit Wife, brothers and friends of Reed, the hero, though the book isn’t directly part of the series.

Enough about me.  It’s time to pass the baton over to you.  Should you have any questions, I’ll be happy to answer them and, if you would like to come visit me  or buy my book, you can find my website at:  http://www.jjadejordan.com/ .

WIN MY BOOK!  I’ll be giving away a print or digital version of THE VISCOUNT’S COUNTERFEIT WIFE (your choice) to ONE lucky commentor.  To win, please leave your e-mail address and comment.  

***I’ll announce the winner on my website.***  

    http://www.jjadejordan.com/

The Holidays Have Officially Begun by Paty Jager

At least for me. 

Once Halloween hits, I consider the next 63 days part of the holidays. November is all about giving thanks and gearing up for a family and friend-filled Thanksgiving.  The day is spent watching parades on TV and thinking ahead to Christmas. December means sending Christmas cards to family and friends, purchasing gifts, decorating, and baking. I love the spirit of Christmas.The coming together and giving-whether its time or gifts. Then comes New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. My mother-in-law always has family and friends over for a big meal on New Year’s Day.

Then it’s the gift of another year and another set of goals and adventures.

Speaking of gifts, every year about this time I like to give readers a gift and this year it’s two short western historical romance stories. You can find them in my Western Holiday Duets novelette. It’s free on all major ebook venues. If you don’t have an ebook you can download and read it on your computer.

Both of these stories came from different circumstances. Christmas Eve Promise started as a fun activity when a reader tossed out five words on a western romance forum asking the authors to use them in a paragraph or short story. My paragraph grew to a short story and then to a longer version that is in this novelette. The second story, New Year’s Kiss, started on the sister blog to this one- Free Reads by the Generistas.

    

Western Holiday Duets 

Two historical western romance short stories.

Christmas Eve Promise

Sheriff Jubal Denton promises Suzie Harper they’ll marry Christmas Eve. Two weeks before Christmas a breakout at the Willow Bend jail sends Jubal across the state in an attempt to capture the outlaw. Christmas Eve arrives. Other members of the posse have returned, but where is Jubal?

New Year’s Kiss

Edda Rae Bartlett is pacing back and forth on New Year’s Eve waiting for her beau, Cort Haywood. He said he had something important to tell her before the end of the year. And there are only a few hours left to this year. Her best friend arrives, dragging her to a party and into a game her friend learned while traveling. Edda Rae likes the fact she is elbow to elbow with Cort, but soon learns everyone in the room knows something about the game but her. 

Download links:

Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OW6VY2G

Barnes and Noble http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/western-holiday-duet-paty-jager/1120581932

Apple https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id930986196

Kobo http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/western-holiday-duet

About Paty:

Award-winning author Paty Jager and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon.  On her road to publication she wrote freelance articles for two local newspapers and enjoyed her job with the County Extension service as a 4-H Program Assistant. Raising hay and cattle, riding horses, and battling rattlesnakes, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it.

All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Her penchant for research takes her on side trips that eventually turn into yet another story.

You can learn more about Paty at her blog; Writing into the Sunset  her website; http://www.patyjager.net or on Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/#!/paty.jager , Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1005334.Paty_Jager  and twitter;  @patyjag.

If you sign up for my newsletter you get the chance to purchase my books for $.99 when they first release. 

Emotional Novellas-It’s All In The Plotting

I’ve written 5 x long romance stories (over 95,000 words), 1 x category contemporary about 50,000 words and 3  x 39,000 word novellas. Many writers, and readers, have asked me whether I find writing different length books difficult. How do I develop deep, believable characters, in a shorter book? The answer is it’s not difficult!

It’s in the plotting.

When I write a romance, I love immersing myself in the characters' world. I try to make the characters real, likeable and human –that often means flawed. When you have a character who has deep, inner emotional problems, you need to be able to write a character arc that allows them to face their fears and grow. How can you do that in a novella?

I’m a plotter, so I usually know how their character arcs are going to develop before I start writing the story. I use Michael Hauge’s Six Act Story Structure (I think I’ve mentioned him before).  His tried and true plotting method is structure into 6 acts that have approximate percentages for growth across the book, all centred around 5 turning points. For instance, the first 10% of the book is about the here and now. What does the character believe about himself at the beginning of the book (even though he may be kidding himself)?

Michael says: The opening 10% of your screenplay must draw the reader, and the audience, into the initial setting of the story, must reveal the everyday life your hero has been living, and must establish identification with your hero by making him/her sympathetic, threatened, likable, funny and/or powerful.

If you use a plotting tool like this, you can see how easy it is to write any length book. Simply take the percentages and apply them. If I want to write a novella of say 20,000 words, then Stage 1 will be 2,000 words. Stage 1 will be 9,500 for a 95,000 word novel.

Shorter stories mean tighter character development. I thoroughly recommend having a road map to follow, or a plot outline of the story first, because showing a believable character growth in shorter books is the key to an emotionally engaging novella.

My first novella, To Dare the Duke of Dangerfield, was a Top 5 Finalist in the Kindle Book Review Indie Romance book of the Year 2012 and was a finalist in RomCon Best Historical 2012.

It’s currently FREE over at SMASHWORDS with the following Coupon code REW25 at checkout ow.ly/uf9FT 

Marketing or reader perk ~ why can't it be both? (Read on for two good deals!)

One of the hardest parts about being a published author in the 21st century is getting found by readers. While traditionally published authors do have the advantage of *hopefully* being on bookstore shelves for their first eight weeks, e-pubbed authors and self-pubbed authors have an uphill battle from Day One.

                   

There are ten million books on Amazon ~ and that means one million total authors is probably a conservative estimate. My overall author ranking hovers between 20,000 and 30,000. That doesn't sound impressive until you do the math: I'm in the top 2-3% of all authors on Amazon.

I know how many books I sell. While I'm not satisfied, I am still climbing the mountain of success. Along the path, I need to find ways both to expose myself to new readers, and thank my loyal fans.

The best way to find new readers, in my opinion, is to give special and limited opportunities for readers to try me. One thing I have done, is lower the prices of my self-pubbed books until midnight on the Monday after I am at big events. I print postcards with the titles, prices, and deadlines, and give them out to readers who don't purchase AT the event.

I always see a bump in numbers after my appearances ~ and have found new fans as a result.

(Here comes the FIRST good deal!)

Boxed sets are big on Kindle right now, so I decided to jump on the trend and created a boxed set of my own. In "Hansens in America" I combined a father, son, and grandson's stories into one set, and priced the five books (and 500,000-ish words) at just $9.99.

This special "holiday" price will only be available until midnight on December 31st. I'm hoping my fans will spread the word, and that this encourages new readers to give me a try! My books normally sell for $5.99, so this truly is a smokin' deal.

(Here comes the SECOND good deal!)

For my fans, I wrote a novella called "In the Norseman's House" tying together the two novels which I set in Scotland: Loving the Norseman and Loving the Knight. I wrote those books to woo the Big Six publishers, but never wrote the connected story which rounds them off. Now that they are self-pubbed, I decided to write the connecting novella and give it away for free.

Anyone who takes a photo of themselves in a public place holding a sign that says, "Norway is the new Scotland! KrisTualla.com" and emails me the photo (Kris@KrisTualla.com) will receive a signed, limited edition, print copy of the novella. Eventually the novella will be available to the world, but not until my fans have a chance to get a free copy for themselves.

The bottom line is, I still need to be found. And I think the best way for me to do that, is to reward anyone who is paying attention!

So: Happy holidays to YOU ~ with love, from me. I hope you'll enjoy the gifts.

And spread the word.

Kris ;)