Amy DuBoff's Blog, page 2
February 19, 2016
NEW RELEASE: Web of Truth (Cadicle #4)
The wait is finally over! Web of Truth, the fourth installment in the Cadicle series, is now live on Amazon!Like the other volumes, it is enrolled in KDP Select. A paperback edition is also available. You may preview it here on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A06VC6E
Within the next few weeks, I'll be diving in head-first to write Volume 5, Crossroads of Fate. I'm targeting a release sometime in Q3 2016.
Happy reading! :-)
January 1, 2016
Web of Truth Release date! February 19, 2016
I have completed the first draft of Volume 4 in the Cadicle series, so I feel comfortable stating a release date. Web of Truth will be released on February 19, 2016!
I do not have my official cover art from Tom yet (due to some poor scheduling on my part, sigh), but I will share that as soon as it's available.
Since I can't present you with cover art for Web of Truth yet, I will substitute a song. Keeping with my Two Steps from Hell musical traditions, the theme for Web of Truth is "Our Destiny" by Thomas Bergersen from his album "Sun": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPfzi.... Enjoy :-).
Thank you for bearing with me on the extended timeline between releases!
I do not have my official cover art from Tom yet (due to some poor scheduling on my part, sigh), but I will share that as soon as it's available.
Since I can't present you with cover art for Web of Truth yet, I will substitute a song. Keeping with my Two Steps from Hell musical traditions, the theme for Web of Truth is "Our Destiny" by Thomas Bergersen from his album "Sun": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPfzi.... Enjoy :-).
Thank you for bearing with me on the extended timeline between releases!
November 13, 2015
Paperbacks are here!
I am thrilled to announce that there are now paperback editions of the first three books in the Cadicle series!
The books are linked with the Kindle version. You can check them out on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/author/amyduboff
And hey, just in time for the holiday season :-).
I hope you enjoy!
The books are linked with the Kindle version. You can check them out on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/author/amyduboff
And hey, just in time for the holiday season :-).
I hope you enjoy!
October 23, 2015
RELEASE DAY! Bonds of Resolve (Cadicle #3)
Release day is finally here! I'm excited to hear your reactions to this new installment in the Cadicle series.
You can pick up a copy here: bit.ly/buycadicle3
Writing this book was a change for me from the previous two volumes largely because it was mostly new. Whereas significant pieces of the previous two volumes had been written a decade ago (and subsequently revised—a lot), most of this book was written within the last two years, if not several months. While it’s daunting to stare at a blank page with a blinking cursor, it’s also freeing. I hope you enjoyed reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it.
You can pick up a copy here: bit.ly/buycadicle3
Writing this book was a change for me from the previous two volumes largely because it was mostly new. Whereas significant pieces of the previous two volumes had been written a decade ago (and subsequently revised—a lot), most of this book was written within the last two years, if not several months. While it’s daunting to stare at a blank page with a blinking cursor, it’s also freeing. I hope you enjoyed reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it.
August 21, 2015
Official Release Date for "Bonds of Resolve" - October 23rd
"Bonds of Resolve," the third installment in the Cadicle series, will be released on October 23rd! Like the other volumes, it is enrolled in KDP Select. You may pre-order it now on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B012HEKVPU
The book is currently in the first round of beta reviews. I'm pleased with how the book has come together and hope you like it, too :-).
If you know anyone who might be interested in participating in a blog tour for the book's release, signup is here: http://goo.gl/forms/qAXNPHJnbU
The book is currently in the first round of beta reviews. I'm pleased with how the book has come together and hope you like it, too :-).
If you know anyone who might be interested in participating in a blog tour for the book's release, signup is here: http://goo.gl/forms/qAXNPHJnbU
Some Exciting Personal News
I've been somewhat absent from the online verse for the last few weeks. However, it was for a good reason--I got married!
The wedding on August 8th was truly the happiest day of my life. It was everything I'd dreamed it would be, and more. My husband, Nick, is an incredible guy and we couldn't be more excited to now officially be life partners. He's been so supportive of my writing and is one of the main reasons I'm a published author today.
With wedding planning finally off of my plate, I'm now re-focusing on writing. It's already been an incredible year, and I'm excited for everything else yet to come!:-)
The wedding on August 8th was truly the happiest day of my life. It was everything I'd dreamed it would be, and more. My husband, Nick, is an incredible guy and we couldn't be more excited to now officially be life partners. He's been so supportive of my writing and is one of the main reasons I'm a published author today.
With wedding planning finally off of my plate, I'm now re-focusing on writing. It's already been an incredible year, and I'm excited for everything else yet to come!:-)
July 16, 2015
COVER REVEAL: Bonds of Resolve (Cadicle #3)
It is finally time to reveal the cover for Bonds of Resolve, the third installment in the Cadicle series...
Thank you again to Tom Edwards for bringing the story to life!
The book will be released sometime in October. Stay tuned for the final release date!
Thank you again to Tom Edwards for bringing the story to life!
The book will be released sometime in October. Stay tuned for the final release date!
June 28, 2015
RELEASE DAY: Veil of Reality (Cadicle #2)
Veil of RealityToday was 17 years in the making. I began writing what is now Veil of Reality when I was in middle school. At the time, I thought it was going to be Part 1 of a two-part novel. Over the years, that expanded a bit :-). I'm so excited to finally be able to share it with the world!
I love this book and I hope you do, too. We finally get the meet Wil, the central hero of the series, as he discovers his place in shaping the future.
Though I do recommend reading Architects of Destiny first to get some added context for the story universe, you can jump right into Veil of Reality. Check it out on Amazon and in Kindle Unlimited: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VDKSD8C
Please help spread the word and make this launch a success!
June 9, 2015
Honing In on the Best Marketing Approach
Well, self-publishing continues to be a fun and exciting journey! The last month has had some highs and lows, but on the whole it has been amazing.
I hate to contradict myself, but I’ve learned a lot about what seems to be working marketing-wise and what hasn’t generated any results. So, below is a follow-up to my earlier post about marketing and publishing channels.
1. Distribution
My initial strategy to go for wide distribution didn’t pan out how I hoped. In theory, the more places a book is available, the more it will sell. Right?
Well, despite having the book available on B&N, Kobo, Google Play and iTunes, all of those platforms combined only moved four copies. Four copies in seven weeks is pretty dismal. Amazon, by contrast, is at 160+. Since book one is all about building a foundation for the series, I have it available for lending on Amazon. However, since the book is wide distribution and therefore not enrolled in KDP Select, I’m missing out on any potential revenue from those borrows.
Aside from being the largest online bookseller, I think I got more sales through Amazon for one simple reason: site navigation. Trying to run searches or filter results on most other sites in a nightmare. Amazon has so many layers and categories built into their catalog that some potential readers are almost certain to stumble upon your book eventually. “What about Google Play?” you may ask. Yes, Google Play is optimized for searching—it will search through book descriptions, and even the book content itself, which Amazon does not. However, when browsing by category, only Top Sellers show up. It was pretty disheartening to see that my book would ONLY ever appear if it came up in a keyword search. It makes it next to impossible for a new author to be discovered when only bestsellers make the page for each genre—and there’s no “see all” option.
That’s a long-winded way of saying I’ll be going Amazon exclusive. For a while, at least.
2. Marketing Channels
I continue to cast a wide net for marketing. Potential readers could be anywhere. I have posts up on several sites that offer a free promotional areas, such as Craigslist, Goodreads, and Indies Unlimited. I’ve also invested in some paid marketing, with mixed results.
2.1. Goodreads Paid Promotion
I decided to throw $10 at Goodreads and see what would happen. Of the 16,000+ combined views on the four ads in the campaign, there have been six click-throughs. I have not noticed any correlation to the clicks and the sales. Therefore, for now, I’m putting Goodreads advertising in a category for decent awareness-building and name recognition exposure, but it’s not a great way to generate sales. I will say, though, that money is only debited from the campaign fund for each click, so those ads will continue to run for quite some time. Doing it over, I would have started with $5.
2.2. AwesomeGang Paid Promotion
AwesomeGang offers both paid and free promotions. I did not notice any increase in sales the days surrounding the promotion. Doing it over, I would have done the free option. I stayed on the mailing list for a few weeks, and it seemed like the books were often of a more romance/erotica nature, so maybe space opera just wasn’t the right fit for the mailing list and others would garner different results. So, for a free marketing option, I’d say go for it, but skip the paid upgrade.
2.3. Pretty-Hot
Similar to AwesomeGang, there are free and paid promotions. The paid promotion came with some website featured placement time, so I went for it. Again, no discernible sales difference around those promotion days. Doing it over, I’d go for the free option. As with anything else, if it’s free marketing, may as well keep it as part of the overall campaign.
2.4. EReader News Today
Here’s where things got interesting. I signed up for EReader News Today when I came across it in my search for all things related to self-published book promotions. I wasn’t familiar with the site and its potential reach. In fact, when I saw that my book was accepted for May 19, I had completely forgotten about it and the $20 by the time the date rolled around. So, needless to say, I was shocked when I had more than triple my usual daily sales volume by the time it was 10am. By the end of the day, I had sold 46 copies and reached #6,292 in the Paid Kindle Store. For some, that’s nothing. But for me as a first-time author, it was huge. I didn’t quite break even on the money spent versus sales revenue, but the potential sales conversions to Book 2 in the series was well worth it. And, no copies were returned!
2.5. The Fussy Librarian
This site used to be free, but alas it is no more. However, the science fiction list has more than 100,000 subscribers, so a $16 investment has the potential to pay off well. The ad will be running on June 26th, so we’ll see what happens.
3. Getting Reviews
Trying to get books reviews is exhausting. For several weeks, I spent my evenings combing through lists of bloggers and sending out review requests. I also went through all of the Top 1000 reviewers on Amazon and wrote those who might be interested in my book. Between those two approaches, I only had about a 10 to 20 percent response rate, so it’s a lot of work for little payoff. However, every review counts. From what I’ve heard and read, the magic number to hit on Amazon is 50 reviews. I’m at 23 right now, so almost halfway there! I’m hoping more readers will start to post, as well.
4. Willingness to Adapt
When I released “Architects of Destiny,” I thought it was perfect. Well, of course, it wasn’t. After I had a few reviews, I noticed some common themes. So, I made some minor revisions. Nothing major that I’d say would warrant a re-read, but little refinements to polish the presentation. Some love the book, some think it’s okay, and others detest it. That’s how it goes with these things. But, some people DO love it—far more than those who hate it—so I’m standing by my work and not doing a complete overhaul to please the dissenting minority. That said, there’s always room for improvement, and I’ll continue to make those little revisions when I think there's opportunity to enhance the reader experience.
I’m glad I can so easily make those adjustments and have a new version live within hours. For that reason, I’m electing to hold off on offering a paperback version of the book until those little final tweaks are in place.
5. Closing Thoughts
Marketing a book is never-ending. And, in some ways, the book itself can continue to evolve. Self-publishing offers the unique opportunity for continuous improvement while maintaining creative control, and I’m thrilled I went that route. As I continue to learn, I will share my thoughts and hopefully help others in the way I was guided when I first started out.
I hate to contradict myself, but I’ve learned a lot about what seems to be working marketing-wise and what hasn’t generated any results. So, below is a follow-up to my earlier post about marketing and publishing channels.
1. Distribution
My initial strategy to go for wide distribution didn’t pan out how I hoped. In theory, the more places a book is available, the more it will sell. Right?
Well, despite having the book available on B&N, Kobo, Google Play and iTunes, all of those platforms combined only moved four copies. Four copies in seven weeks is pretty dismal. Amazon, by contrast, is at 160+. Since book one is all about building a foundation for the series, I have it available for lending on Amazon. However, since the book is wide distribution and therefore not enrolled in KDP Select, I’m missing out on any potential revenue from those borrows.
Aside from being the largest online bookseller, I think I got more sales through Amazon for one simple reason: site navigation. Trying to run searches or filter results on most other sites in a nightmare. Amazon has so many layers and categories built into their catalog that some potential readers are almost certain to stumble upon your book eventually. “What about Google Play?” you may ask. Yes, Google Play is optimized for searching—it will search through book descriptions, and even the book content itself, which Amazon does not. However, when browsing by category, only Top Sellers show up. It was pretty disheartening to see that my book would ONLY ever appear if it came up in a keyword search. It makes it next to impossible for a new author to be discovered when only bestsellers make the page for each genre—and there’s no “see all” option.
That’s a long-winded way of saying I’ll be going Amazon exclusive. For a while, at least.
2. Marketing Channels
I continue to cast a wide net for marketing. Potential readers could be anywhere. I have posts up on several sites that offer a free promotional areas, such as Craigslist, Goodreads, and Indies Unlimited. I’ve also invested in some paid marketing, with mixed results.
2.1. Goodreads Paid Promotion
I decided to throw $10 at Goodreads and see what would happen. Of the 16,000+ combined views on the four ads in the campaign, there have been six click-throughs. I have not noticed any correlation to the clicks and the sales. Therefore, for now, I’m putting Goodreads advertising in a category for decent awareness-building and name recognition exposure, but it’s not a great way to generate sales. I will say, though, that money is only debited from the campaign fund for each click, so those ads will continue to run for quite some time. Doing it over, I would have started with $5.
2.2. AwesomeGang Paid Promotion
AwesomeGang offers both paid and free promotions. I did not notice any increase in sales the days surrounding the promotion. Doing it over, I would have done the free option. I stayed on the mailing list for a few weeks, and it seemed like the books were often of a more romance/erotica nature, so maybe space opera just wasn’t the right fit for the mailing list and others would garner different results. So, for a free marketing option, I’d say go for it, but skip the paid upgrade.
2.3. Pretty-Hot
Similar to AwesomeGang, there are free and paid promotions. The paid promotion came with some website featured placement time, so I went for it. Again, no discernible sales difference around those promotion days. Doing it over, I’d go for the free option. As with anything else, if it’s free marketing, may as well keep it as part of the overall campaign.
2.4. EReader News Today
Here’s where things got interesting. I signed up for EReader News Today when I came across it in my search for all things related to self-published book promotions. I wasn’t familiar with the site and its potential reach. In fact, when I saw that my book was accepted for May 19, I had completely forgotten about it and the $20 by the time the date rolled around. So, needless to say, I was shocked when I had more than triple my usual daily sales volume by the time it was 10am. By the end of the day, I had sold 46 copies and reached #6,292 in the Paid Kindle Store. For some, that’s nothing. But for me as a first-time author, it was huge. I didn’t quite break even on the money spent versus sales revenue, but the potential sales conversions to Book 2 in the series was well worth it. And, no copies were returned!
2.5. The Fussy Librarian
This site used to be free, but alas it is no more. However, the science fiction list has more than 100,000 subscribers, so a $16 investment has the potential to pay off well. The ad will be running on June 26th, so we’ll see what happens.
3. Getting Reviews
Trying to get books reviews is exhausting. For several weeks, I spent my evenings combing through lists of bloggers and sending out review requests. I also went through all of the Top 1000 reviewers on Amazon and wrote those who might be interested in my book. Between those two approaches, I only had about a 10 to 20 percent response rate, so it’s a lot of work for little payoff. However, every review counts. From what I’ve heard and read, the magic number to hit on Amazon is 50 reviews. I’m at 23 right now, so almost halfway there! I’m hoping more readers will start to post, as well.
4. Willingness to Adapt
When I released “Architects of Destiny,” I thought it was perfect. Well, of course, it wasn’t. After I had a few reviews, I noticed some common themes. So, I made some minor revisions. Nothing major that I’d say would warrant a re-read, but little refinements to polish the presentation. Some love the book, some think it’s okay, and others detest it. That’s how it goes with these things. But, some people DO love it—far more than those who hate it—so I’m standing by my work and not doing a complete overhaul to please the dissenting minority. That said, there’s always room for improvement, and I’ll continue to make those little revisions when I think there's opportunity to enhance the reader experience.
I’m glad I can so easily make those adjustments and have a new version live within hours. For that reason, I’m electing to hold off on offering a paperback version of the book until those little final tweaks are in place.
5. Closing Thoughts
Marketing a book is never-ending. And, in some ways, the book itself can continue to evolve. Self-publishing offers the unique opportunity for continuous improvement while maintaining creative control, and I’m thrilled I went that route. As I continue to learn, I will share my thoughts and hopefully help others in the way I was guided when I first started out.
May 1, 2015
The Waiting Game
Getting a review is never easy—whether it’s a school exam, a performance review at work, or results in a competition. Personally, I find the most difficult part to be that time in between submission and discovering the outcome.
Awaiting feedback is particularly difficult when it comes to creative pursuits like books. The moment you hit “submit,” it’s out there in the world. First, there’s relief: “Yay! I’m finally done!!” Then, the little questioning voice rises from the depths: “Will they like it? Should I have done anything differently?” During this time, a person can run through every possible scenario—from the book becoming an overnight success, to NO ONE buying it. In reality, the results are most likely going to be somewhere in the middle. Yet, our minds tend to go to the extremes, despite best intentions to remain rational. For this reason, I find that this waiting period is one of the most difficult parts of the publication process. I want to know where my work stands in reality, rather than losing myself to far-fetched “what ifs.”
Eventually, the reviews do come. I won’t count those initial gushing reviews from family and close friends, because there’s an element of obligation there. What’s truly exciting and rewarding is getting the first review from a total stranger—and, having them genuinely like it. Whether we admit it or not, that kind of validation is a dream come true.
But, not every bit of feedback is going to be positive. While I certainly don’t take a critique on my writing as a reflection on me personally, it does require a thick skin to hear someone say your work was just “okay”—or worse yet, actual dislike it. I choose to take such commentary as an opportunity to identify the specific ways I can improve going forward. But, after spending thousands of hours creating something, a negative review still stings.
Through it all, I know that I can only grow as a writer by taking a hard look at the weak elements in my storytelling and presentation. Outside feedback is a valuable component of that honest assessment. Any writer that wants to grow needs to be willing to take the bad with the good. So, I listen to it all. Some people just might not like the series and my style, and that’s okay. The key, for me, is to find the middle ground of creating something that I’m proud to call mine while still finding an audience.
And so, I wait. I would not consider the nine reviews I have on Amazon at present to be a representative sample. I am eager to hear what my readers like, and what they’d like to see in the future. I know I can’t please everyone, but I will try to be my best (channeling some “Dollhouse” here :-)).
Thank you for all the support, and I look forward to your feedback!
Awaiting feedback is particularly difficult when it comes to creative pursuits like books. The moment you hit “submit,” it’s out there in the world. First, there’s relief: “Yay! I’m finally done!!” Then, the little questioning voice rises from the depths: “Will they like it? Should I have done anything differently?” During this time, a person can run through every possible scenario—from the book becoming an overnight success, to NO ONE buying it. In reality, the results are most likely going to be somewhere in the middle. Yet, our minds tend to go to the extremes, despite best intentions to remain rational. For this reason, I find that this waiting period is one of the most difficult parts of the publication process. I want to know where my work stands in reality, rather than losing myself to far-fetched “what ifs.”
Eventually, the reviews do come. I won’t count those initial gushing reviews from family and close friends, because there’s an element of obligation there. What’s truly exciting and rewarding is getting the first review from a total stranger—and, having them genuinely like it. Whether we admit it or not, that kind of validation is a dream come true.
But, not every bit of feedback is going to be positive. While I certainly don’t take a critique on my writing as a reflection on me personally, it does require a thick skin to hear someone say your work was just “okay”—or worse yet, actual dislike it. I choose to take such commentary as an opportunity to identify the specific ways I can improve going forward. But, after spending thousands of hours creating something, a negative review still stings.
Through it all, I know that I can only grow as a writer by taking a hard look at the weak elements in my storytelling and presentation. Outside feedback is a valuable component of that honest assessment. Any writer that wants to grow needs to be willing to take the bad with the good. So, I listen to it all. Some people just might not like the series and my style, and that’s okay. The key, for me, is to find the middle ground of creating something that I’m proud to call mine while still finding an audience.
And so, I wait. I would not consider the nine reviews I have on Amazon at present to be a representative sample. I am eager to hear what my readers like, and what they’d like to see in the future. I know I can’t please everyone, but I will try to be my best (channeling some “Dollhouse” here :-)).
Thank you for all the support, and I look forward to your feedback!
