Ruth Ann Nordin's Blog, page 43

The Bride Price is Now Available!

I’m sorry I’m getting to this post so late. The book came out yesterday, but things were so hectic around my corner of the world.

What’s the Point of Reading a Book if There’s Little Content and Lots of Ads?

I can answer this question in four simple words:

There is no point.

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ID 95219571 © Rohane Hamilton | Dreamstime

So what brings about this topic?

There’s a certain radio show I used to listen to a lot. It had great content, and a lot of the stuff was helpful. I could glean something worthwhile out of every show because there would be at least one caller who had a situation I could put in the, “You’ll need to know this in the future” category.

Over the past two weeks, I decided to go back to listening to this show. Instead of the podcast, I was using You Tube. This show has drastically changed. Now, it’s about 70% advertisement in some form. At the very beginning of the show, there’s two ads that run back to back for that particular show. (This is in addition to the ad You Tube will run at the beginning of the video.) So then about 15 minutes into the actual show, you think you’re going to finally get to the meat and potatoes of what the show is supposed to be about. Except, you don’t. There’s some customer who spends about 10 minutes bragging about how much the show helped him/her. So it’s really just another ad. Then we finally get to a call with actual substance, which is about 5 minutes, 10 if you’re lucky. Then we run off to another product the owner has available. And the cycle runs through this over the course of one hour.

So I figured out that in the course of one hour, a maximum of 20 minutes is actual content a listener can gain any benefit from. What’s awful is that most of the content isn’t even useful. Over the past two weeks, I think I might have gathered one thing that’s any benefit to me. So instead of getting something out of every show, which airs five times a week, I have to listen to two weeks’ worth of show to gain one new thing. This is a huge waste of my time.  I don’t know how this show manages to stay on the air, and I’m not going to listen to it anymore.

Anyway, this is going to bring me to the process of making a book because my brain is wired to look at things as both an author and a reader. (I can’t remove that part of my life from most topics because I love writing and reading a lot.)

Yesterday, I started thinking about some of the reviews I’ve seen on some books as I browsed through online retailers. Some authors apparently like to shove a lot of ads for their other books into the book they have published. There’s nothing wrong with some form of advertisement. How else are people going to know what an author has written? But these reviewers claim that these particular authors have about 30%-50% actual book and the rest is nothing but ads for other books. I can see how that would turn off a reader. When they’re downloading a book (especially if they paid for it), they expect most of that space to be filled with the story, just I as expected way more content from that radio show.

In my opinion, a book should have at least 90% story. The 10% can go to ads. Ideally, I think 95% is better for actual content. But this is my rule of thumb on this particular topic.

You can always link more information to your blog or website at the end of your book. Ebooks have made this especially easy. Just insert your url as a hyperlink (if you format the book yourself) or ask your formatter to do it for you. Then, if someone loves your book, they can click the link at the end of the book to find more details about your other books where you can post as many samples or other information as you want. That way, it’s a win-win. Readers don’t feel cheated, and you still give them the option to do more in-depth on what you offer.

I also think adding a link to an email list at the back of a book is a good idea. Then you can directly reach them when you have a special sale or a new release.  I also think it’s a good idea to include an entire list of books you’ve already published because if someone loves the book and wants to read more, they have the list right there. They don’t have to search for it. When I get excited about a new author, the first thing I do is see what else they’ve done. Some authors add a short description for each book.  The more books you have out, the harder it’s going to be to add a short description for every single book you’ve done. An alternative to this is to add a short description for the books in that specific series or that specific genre. You can add links to the series or individual books so the reader can find out more about them in more detail without adding a lot of space that is in your book.

With e-reading devices being electronically friendly, it’s easier than ever to use links to your blog or website to your advantage. I word on an Apple computer in Microsoft Word. The way I add links is to highlight the text I want to link to. Then I go to the toolbar. I go to Insert. Then I scroll down to Hyperlink. This is what pops up:

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You choose the “Web Page” option, which is in blue in the screen shot above. At the very top is the box for “Link To”. Either copy and paste the url into that box or manually type in the link you want people to go to.

That is how I add links to my sites when I format books. Depending on your program, you might have to do things differently.

You can use these links to add some fun stuff for the readers. Maybe you can offer a special short story, character interviews, pictures of characters, trivia about the book, or something else. It can become an interactive way to engage with your readers. Maybe you can ask a question and direct people to answer through the link. If you set up a page on your blog or website dedicated to receiving feedback from your readers, this could become a way to engage with them on a personal level.

I haven’t done any of these. I just thought of this stuff as I was writing this post, but there are things you can do to promote your other books without taking up a lot of valuable space in your book.

 

 

Putting Wanted: Mail Order Husband On Hold

I have been standing at a wall on this particular book for the past two months, and thought I’ve added a couple thousand words to it, in my gut, I know there’s something “off” about it. So I’m putting it aside.

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I rarely ever do that with a book, but sometimes a writer has to put something on hold and focus on something else. Fortunately, this wasn’t up on pre-order, so I have the luxury of doing that.

This is one good argument against doing a pre-order. I love doing pre-orders. They are a great way to get everything lined up in advance. BUT I can see there being a benefit to waiting until the book is done before doing anything with it. If I had put this thing on pre-order, I’d have to get it done even though it’s gone off track. I suspect it went off track about 10,000 words back. My word count in this book at the moment is 24,000 words. For me, I don’t usually know I’ve gone off track on a story until I’m 5,000 to 10,000 words away from the point where things went downhill. This happened in The Earl’s Inconvenient Wife, Boaz’s Wager, and Wagon Trail Bride. I ended up going back and rewriting major portions of that book. The thing was, back then, I was too stupid to realize I had gone off track, which meant I kept on writing until about 20,000 words needed to be scrapped. Those were not fun times. I hate doing that.

So having learned how my brain works, I’m going to stop right now while I only have 10,000 words to scrap. When it’s been over a month, and I’m still struggling with a book, it’s a red flag that I’m not taking the book in the right direction. I’m going to set this aside in a folder, and when the time is right, I’ll go back to it.

This, of course, means, I have a vacancy. I don’t like doubling up on books in the same series. For example, I don’t like writing Book 1 and Book 2 at the same time because something that happens in Book 1 might impact something I need to put in Book 2, but if I were to write those at the same time, I wouldn’t realize this until I’m deep in Book 2. This would require me to go back and scrap parts of Book 2 and rewrite it. So I have to start on a book that isn’t part of a series I’m currently working on. I don’t know what that book will be yet. I still need to get done with Married In Haste so I can have it ready for my editing team at the end of the month.

I am currently behind in my writing schedule. This hasn’t been helped by the fact that I hit a dead end on Wanted: Mail Order Husband. It has only made things a lot more frustrating, and the more frustrated I’ve been getting, the harder it’s been to write anything at all, even in stories where I know where I’m going. It’s difficult to write when you’re wound up so tight that you have trouble concentrating on anything.  I’m hoping that if I put this book aside, it’ll help relieve some of the pressure so that my creativity will come back. Right now I’m going to focus on Married In Haste and The Rejected Groom. I know I’m on the right tack in those books.

Like I said above, I am relieved that I never put this one up on pre-order. The pressure isn’t there to finish it. Going through this experience has me questioning whether or not pre-orders on a book is really that great of an idea. If the book is already finished, I guess I don’t see any harm in doing it. It is nice to have everything done on the day of release so all you have to do is let people know the book is available. To me, that is the main benefit of doing a pre-order. I’ve never seen massive sales from doing pre-orders. There is a slight bump, but it’s nothing to brag about. Now, if you’re a popular author with a large following, then pre-orders could be a powerful tool under your belt. But if you’re not comfortable doing a pre-order or don’t see any benefit to it, I see no reason to do it. I think pre-orders were supposed to be the next big thing in marketing, but I don’t think it ever panned out to be what people said it was supposed to be. (That’s my two cents for what it’s worth.)

The important thing is that the book should be one the author is proud of. Believe me, it’s no fun to have a book out there that you cringe about whenever you think about it. So for the sake of Wanted: Mail Order Husband, I’m not going to finish it at this time.

Updates on What I’m Doing

I feel like it’s been forever since I’ve been in a writing routine. I did well this summer, and then in mid-August, I took a break. Since then, I’ve been struggling to get back into a solid writing routine. This is why I’m not a fan of long breaks. The longer the break, the harder it is to get back into the habit that’s already been established. Thankfully, I was still able to get some things accomplished over the last two months, which I’ll discuss below.

First of all, I’ve decided to keep writing stories at the length I’ve been doing all this time. I appreciate all of the comments people gave me on my last post. It means a lot to me that you took the time to let me know what you thought.

Second, I still prefer typing to dictation, but I do dictation when I have to. It’s easier for me to think a story out while I type. I guess it’s because my brain has been wired that way for years. Dictation is coming along easier, but I feel like I’m training my left hand to write when I’m right-hand dominant. It doesn’t come naturally.

Now, for the things I managed to get done over the past two months.

The Bride Price is due out October 28

(Some retailers haven’t updated the release date yet, but the update should be showing up in a week or two.)

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If you want to, you can pre-order a copy now:

Amazon

Amazon UK

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

iBooks

Smashwords

I finally have a release date on this. The story has been uploaded to all retailers. This is Book 1 in the Misled Mail Order Brides Series. This story has some great suspense in it that I really enjoyed writing. The romance came very easily for this particular couple. They fell in love right away. I tried to get them to hold off on saying the “L” word (love) until later in the story, but they fought me and prevailed. So if you’re looking for angst between the main characters, you aren’t going to find it in this particular story.

I did an entire outline on this book from beginning to end. Halfway into the story, the characters said they weren’t going to follow the outline I did. I give up on plotting. I didn’t really enjoy the process of it. The logical part of my brain still bucks against the creative part of my brain on this story because I let the creative part take control as soon as the characters started veering off course. I know this is hard for some understand, but the subconscious mind does a magnificent job of creating stories. I say it’s the characters who are running the show, but the truth is, it’s the subconscious part that is really at play on this stuff. All I learned from the experience of plotting a book is that I have a lot more fun and enjoyment from writing when I let my subconscious mind run the show. From now on, that is what I’m going to do.

Anyway, I see this book as the springboard into books 2 and 3 in this series, and those books will have plenty of angst between the hero and heroine. Not all stories are created equal. I can’t do formula romances where X + Y = Z because my subconscious mind doesn’t work that way. Each story is going to be its own entity. (This is why I wasn’t a good fit for romance publishers and had to self-publish my books. I couldn’t write romances to fit what they wanted.)

Enough about all of that, though. Let’s continue with what else is new.

How Long Should A Story Be?

The simple answer to this question, of course, is this: A story should only be as long as is necessary to complete it. Word count goals aside, the main thing is writing a story that isn’t rushed but also doesn’t drag on. It should keep the reader wanting to turn the page. When it’s done, there should be a satisfaction in it.

Lately, I’ve been discouraged because my stories seem to go on and on. My stories often range from 50,000 to 70,000 words. Most of the time, I end up with 60,000.  Other authors around me seem to manage to produce a satisfying story at 30,000 or 40,000 words. If I could cut my word count in half, I could produce twice as many books in a year, and the more books an author can produce, the more money that author has the potential for making. I’d like to say that money has nothing to do with writing, but the truth is, it has a lot to do with writing. If the books aren’t selling, then authors have to find other ways to earn money, and most of the time that will require the authors to write a lot less.

At the rate I’m going right now, the most books I can produce in a year is between 8-10. That’s what I’ve been pretty much doing for the past couple of years. I thought I was doing more this year, but the truth is, I’m going to be at 9. Last year I was at 10. But then, last year, I did that nonfiction novella.

So I’ve already been writing as much as I can without going through burnout. Some authors think I write too many books a year. Well, I know of authors who are publishing a lot more than I am. Some are publishing a book a month. Some even publish two in a month. I don’t know how they do it because I’m maxed out on how many I can do unless I start writing shorter stories.

My last attempt at doing this was The Bride Price. It was supposed to be 30,000 words. It turned out to be 50,000. I thought plotting it first would enable to me to bring the word count down. It didn’t. I’m already at 52,000 words in Married In Haste, which needs at least 10,000 more words in order to wrap things up nicely. I just started The Rejected Groom (which follows The Bride Price) which is already at 13,000 words, and I know that I’m only 1/4 of the way into the story, if even that far along. Then in Wanted: Mail Order Husband, I’m at 22,000 words, and I don’t see this finishing before the 50,000-word mark.

It’s frustrating because sales are going down on all of the retailers except for Amazon. Now, I don’t know if that’s because more people are switching over to Amazon, if I don’t have the same visibility I used to at those other retailers, or if it’s because I’m not producing books fast enough. It’s probably a combination of all three factors.  Charging $3.99 instead of $2.99 for a new book is out of the question because my sales will drop if I do that. That’s why I spend this year doing everything I could think of to get more books published. I thought dictation was the answer, but it turns out I dictate at about the same pace I type when you factor in all the editing I need to do with dictation because dictation doesn’t pick up the nuances in the English language, like dear vs. deer.

So I’ve had to come to a very difficult question: how long should my stories be?

Would I be happy with my work if I were to shorten it in order to produce more books in a year? I know some would argue that happiness shouldn’t be a prime motivator for writing. They would argue this is about making money, and an author should do whatever it takes to make more of it. If that means writing about stuff you aren’t all that excited about, then you should do it. So, I’m guessing they would tell me that I should write the stories at the length that will make me the most money. Shorter, in this case, would be better.

But let’s say we fast forward to my death bed. I love writing, and I love writing the types of books I do. Up to this point, I have written each story in the way the characters wanted it to go. These stories average 60,000 words. If I were to have trimmed out some of the subplots, would I have been as happy with the stories as I am with them right now?

The truth is, no, I wouldn’t be as happy with them. One of my favorite series is the Chance At Love Series because of the thread I had going through each story about Abe and Carl. I especially liked Carl, which made it fun to do into the murder of his first wife and the fallout from that.  If I had removed all of that, the stories would have been shorter. Would they have been complete? Yes because that extra stuff had nothing to do with the main plot, and I suppose when you’re making a story shorter, you have to cut out some of the excess around the edges. I kind of like the excess.  One of the things I’m enjoying most about Married In Haste (which is Book 2 in the Marriage by Fate Series) is that I’m finally going to put something at play with Lady Eloise that I’ve been working on since the last Regency series I did (Marriage by Bargain Series).  These little excess things I do don’t really add anything of importance to the main plot, but they’re fun, which is why I’ve been doing them. They lengthen the story.

So I guess what I’m saying is that I want to keep my books the length they are.  Now, for another author, the way I do things might not work well. Short stories and novellas can be very well done. Longer books than what I do can be very well done, too. I just have to come to peace with the fact that I’m not other authors. I am me. I need to stop comparing myself to others, which isn’t as easy as it sounds.

What Book Signings Are Like

Right now I’m in the Omaha, Nebraska area visiting my good friend Janet Syas Nitsick.  She signed up to be one of the vendors at the AppleJack Festival in Nebraska City, Nebraska.  There were lots of vendors, but Janet was in the Fox Center.  I played the gopher for her, running around and getting things she needed.  It was a lot of fun.

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Janet Syas Nitsick at her table. She is dressed in the same outfit the heroine is on The Bride List book cover (which is featured on the poster next to her).

So anyway, I don’t think I’ve ever done a post on what an author goes through to set up a book signing at a craft show, festival, or some other kind of event where people can sell things.

1. The author needs to search for events that are going on in their area that they are interested in going to.  

There will be a person to contact if you want to be a vendor.  The author contacts the vendor, and the vendor will give the author the information on where to go, when to be there to set things up, etc.

2. The author needs to look at expenses.

There is usually a cost to reserve the spot.  For this particular event, Janet paid $75 to be a vendor.  Also, since she’s in Nebraska, she is required to charge sales tax.  In this case, Nebraska City’s sales tax was 7.5%.  The sales tax varies from one city to the next. (The taxes all go to the government. She doesn’t keep it.)  In addition to that, Janet had to figure in cost of gas since this is almost one hour from her home and money paid for food and drink while she is out.  Also, she had to keep track of the miles she drove. Those costs are business related and can be written off when she files her taxes, but she will need to keep careful track of her expenses, so receipts are a must.  I mention all of this because unless she can make more than all of the expenses, she will not make a profit.  So as you can see, her asking $9.95 for a paperback isn’t outrageous.  If she was to have any hope of recouping the costs, she needed to ask that.

3. The author must engage people.

One thing I noticed over the two days was that if Janet didn’t start talking to people, no one would have bought her books.  The rules of marketing are different when you’re in person.  Online, you have some flexibility. You can do free reads, engage in social media, run ads, etc, but at a book signing, you don’t have that luxury.  You need to get out and mingle with people.  If you don’t, people will go right by the table without looking back. About half the people Janet talked to loved to read, but they hadn’t planned on stopping by the table. She had to make eye contact with them, smile, and engage them into a conversation in order to get them to stop. When I found out they loved clean romances, which is what she writes, I kept wondering why they didn’t stop before she talked to them. So if you’re going to have a book signing, you must be willing to get out there and socialize.  (The same was true for other vendors as well. Those who initiated the most conversations sold the best.)

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Now, I skipped over the whole thing where an author has to set up their table because I have pictures for that!  Pictures are the fun part.

Some Pictures From My Trip to Fort Benton, Montana

Since I’ve started Wanted: Mail Order Husband which is the first book in Fort Benton, Montana Series, I decided to go over there to take a look through their pioneer village and museum.

Fort Benton is the birthplace of Montana.  They were a thriving town as long as the steamboat was the preferred method of transportation, but when the railroad came in, it stopped being a big hub in the state.  It was a “wild” west town in its early days. People were shot in the street, and it got pretty rowdy on the main street at night with the gambling and prostitution.  I also learned that buffalo hunting was a huge deal in this area of the United States from both Native Americans and the white settlers.  Also, grasshoppers were a hardship people who grew crops had to contend with.  Those are just a couple of highlights I learned along the way.  I have some good material for this upcoming series that will be a lot of fun.

I thought I’d share some of the pictures my husband and I took.  The things on display ran the range from the late 1800s to the early 1900s.

Here are a couple of restored buildings.

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On the second floor this building was the dentist, eye doctor, and regular doctor.  The mercantile was on the main floor.  We were able to go inside and see all of the items that were in them.

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This is what a dentist’s office used to look like:

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This is in the mercantile:

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Here’s a buggy:

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This is an old cookstove with pots and pans:

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Here is a kitchen sink with a pump:

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And since I love to write romance, the pictures would be incomplete with a groom’s and bride’s clothing:

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Next time I go to Fort Benton, I will take some pictures of the town as it is today.  It really is a picturesque place.  They have done a wonderful job of preserving their history.

If It Takes A Scandal is Now Available!

This morning, If It Takes A Scandal is featured with an excerpt on the Buried Under Romance blog!  To celebrate, I’m offering a giveaway.  The winner will win a free ebook copy of If It Takes A Scandal.  To have a chance of winning, just leave a comment to the question I posed over there. So click here to get to the post!

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If It Takes A Scandal (Marriage by Bargain: Book 4)

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If It Takes A Scandal is the last book in the Marriage by Bargain Series.

If you would like to read the entire series in order, here is the list of the books:

Book 1: The Viscount’s Runaway Bride
Book 2: The Rake’s Vow
Book 3: Taming The Viscountess
Book 4: If It Takes A Scandal

And, though Her Counterfeit Husband is not a part of this series, that book features Jason and Anna (the Duke and Duchess of Watkins) who are friends with the heroine in If It Takes A Scandal.  Because of that, they do play a role in this book.

Here’s the description for If It Takes A Scandal:

A liberated widow. An impoverished earl. A forced marriage may be just what they needed…

Lady Candace Daniel is finally free from her cruel, abusive husband. He’s in no position to order her around from six-feet under. And with all the fun she’s having on the social circuit, she intends to never let a man have that kind of power again…

Corin St. George, the Earl of Durrant, has inherited an earldom and a ramshackle estate. He’s toiled for years to restore the property to its former glory, and he has little respect for the noblewomen around him squandering their husbands’ fortunes…

But when Corin is thrust into a compromising predicament at a ball, he’s forced to marry Candace, the unlucky widow who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Neither spouse has an interest in being together… until friends and fate conspire to show them the possibility of love…

If It Takes a Scandal is the forth and final book in the Marriage by Bargain series. If you like 19th century settings, stubborn but lovable characters, and second chances at happiness, then you’ll love Ruth Ann Nordin’s marital tale.

Buy the book to start the scandalous and heartwarming romance today!

You can find it at these retailers:

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

iBooks

Smashwords

*If I didn’t post a link for your country, please let me know, and I’ll see if I can add it to my list in the future.

 

Update on the Goals I Posted on the Publishing Side of Being an Indie Author

In the post where I wrote about the biggest challenge of being an indie author.  I listed several things I needed to do as the publisher of my company.  Indies are their own publisher.  I thought since my writing break is now over, I would go back and check my progress.  If this kind of thing bores you, feel free to skip.

70% of my marketing and promotion goals were met.

What I got done: I have If It Takes A Scandal set up with the author assistant to promote on Facebook.  I also have a blog post scheduled at a romance blog on the book’s release date.  (The blog post includes a giveaway, so I’ll share it on this blog when it’s ready.)

What I still need to do: I have to set up a Bargain Booksy ad, but I can only do that after The Viscount’s Runaway Bride goes free on all channels.  I’m not doing this until September, so technically, I’m not behind on this one.  However, I haven’t sufficiently updated my blog and website, which is something I do need to do ASAP.

100% of the Formatting and Publishing Goals were met.

Copies of Taming The Viscountess have been mailed to my beta readers.  Forced Into Marriage is now in paperback.  If It Takes A Scandal has been uploaded in ebook and placed in all the retailers.  I finished formatting Shotgun Groom and got it uploaded to Smashwords and the retailers it distributes to. (I had to reformat that book because Smashwords wasn’t accepting the file.)

100% of Copyright Registration goals have been met.

I registered the remaining three books that I needed to do in order to get up-to-date to the US Copyright Office, and I sent off paperback copies to the office.

98% of Social Networking goals have been met.

Except for a personal email to send to a friend, I am all caught up.

60% of edits for The Bride Price are done.

I’m doing a chapter a day in this book.  It’ll be done next week.

100% of Book Cover goals have been met.

I did find someone to update all of my Marriage by Scandal Series.

I got the next two books in the Misled Mail Order Bride Series done.   I also got the pre-orders set up for these books.

I decided to get a new cover for Married In Haste because I wasn’t fully happy with the one that I currently had.

This was a cover I made, and here it is:

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Here is the new cover made by Yellow Prelude Design:

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Personally, I love this one a lot more.  Now I have to go and update this new cover on my blog, website, and in the pre-order information.

I am going to upgrade The Reclusive Earl cover, which is Book 1 in the Marriage by Fate Series.

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I think those were the goals I had listed.  As you can see, I didn’t have a 100% success rate for everything, but I got most of the stuff I had listed done, and that makes me very happy.

 

If It Takes A Scandal is Now on Pre-Order at all Retailers

If It Takes A Scandal is now on pre-order!

This will be available on August 31st

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This is the fourth and final book in the Marriage by Bargain series.

Here are the books in the Marriage by Bargain series:

The Viscounts Runaway Bride (Book 1)
A Rakes Vow (Book 2)
Taming The Viscountess (Book 3)
If It Takes A Scandal (Book 4)

A liberated widow. An impoverished earl. A forced marriage may be just what they needed…

Lady Candace Daniel is finally free from her cruel, abusive husband. He’s in no position to order her around from six-feet under. And with all the fun she’s having on the social circuit, she intends to never let a man have that kind of power again…

Corin St. George has inherited an earldom and a ramshackle estate. He’s toiled for years to restore the property to its former glory, and he has little respect for the noblewomen around him squandering their husbands’ fortunes…

But when Corin is thrust into a compromising predicament at a ball, he’s forced to marry Candace, the unlucky widow who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Neither spouse has an interest in being together… until friends and fate conspire to show them the possibility of love…

If It Takes a Scandal is the fourth and final romance in the Marriage by Bargain series. If you like 19th century settings, stubborn but lovable characters, and second chances at happiness, then you’ll love Ruth Ann Nordin’s marital tale.

You can pre-order this book here:

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Barnes & Noble

KOBO

iBooks

Smashwords