Ruth Nestvold's Blog, page 14

Once again, the importance of covers for indie authors

I got a really nice heads up recently on the new cover for Looking Through Lace: in the monthly e-Book Cover Design awards, Joel Friedlander called it “a strong cover that intrigues.”

The 99c promo that is currently running for Looking Through Lace confirms my growing conviction of how important striking covers are for sales. With an advertising investment of less than $60, I have already sold 110 copies of the novella, with a day still to go in the promo. Since investing in the new covers...

Showing Uthyr around Tintagel for #WIPpet Wednesday

I managed to increase my word count again last week a little. It’s still not where I want it to be, but I got 4100 new words written and edited another 20 pages. And that is despite having the granddaughters on the weekend and having to sew a bunch of Barbie dresses. *g*

I’m actually feeling pretty excited these days about getting a few more projects completed and published, and that’s helping a lot in creating new words. This month is not going to be as fantastic for sales as last month was...

A Golden Unicorn, an update, and Ygerna for #WIPpet Wednesday

First off, I want to point you in the direction of the most recent story in The Tales of the Rose Knights that was published on Daily Science Fiction today, “Golden Unicorn.”

All of the Rose Knights of these stories I wrote with Jay Lake are named after real roses. Here the Golden Unicorn of this week’s title:

Golden Unicorn

Speaking of Jay, I finally got another story I wrote with him revised and submitted to F&SF this weekend. I have such a ridiculously huge backlog of short stories at t...

New ads for Yseult, and a late #WIPpet for Thursday

I was analyzing the Facebook ads I have running today, and I noticed that I’m getting very few clicks from women on my ads for Yseult. That strikes me as a bit unfortunate, since it’s a retelling of Arthurian legend giving some of the female characters much more prominence and more pov action. So I’ve decided to experiment with a new ad in addition to the old targeting a female audience. I will write new copy emphasizing the female perspective, and I’ve been putting together some alternative...

Giant 99c SFF Box Set Sale, Feb. 6-7!

For only two days, chose from over 40 boxed sets at a special sale price of only 99c! Science fiction, dystopian, fantasy, and SFF romance, there’s something for everyone who like speculative fiction here. ;)

My own contribution is Yseult, Books 1-4, on sale for 99c through tomorrow, Feb. 7.

Enjoy!

Tagged: 99c ebooks, 99c sale, fantasy, group promo, science fiction

How to develop a strategy for ebook sale promotions (Starting out as an indie author)

Once upon a time, when I first started switching from traditional to indie publishing, all you had to do to sell books was to offer your works free on a regular basis and get a few thousand downloads. After the free runs, the books would be high in the Amazon rankings, which would provide the visibility to sell a decent number of books daily for a while until your book disappeared into obscurity again. My biggest income month as an indie author is still from those early golddigger days.

In t...

Writing, sales, taxes, and more from Ygerna for #WIPpet Wednesday

It’s amazing to me how inspirational regular sales can be for my writing. And I don’t think it’s just a matter of greed. *g* Just seeing a steady increase in books bought and pages read makes this whole writing addiction seem so much less like some kind of idiotic weakness on my part. It’s working! I’m finding an audience! Maybe I really can make real money at this someday!

And that puts all kinds of inferiority complex demons to rest, which in turn makes the writing somehow easier.

Speakin...

Ground Hog Day Science Fiction Romance Sale! Feb. 2-4

Big science fiction romance sale going on over ScifiRomance, and the Looking Through Lace Boxed Set is one of the books included! You have to act fast — the 99c price tag for both books is only through Feb. 4.

But be forewarned regarding the link to the sales page above: lots of six packs on display. *g*

Tagged: 99c sale, group promo, looking through lace, scifi romance, sfr, sfrom

KENPC v2.0 Amazon KDP Changes Normalized Page Counts (February 1, 2016)

This is not good news. My big Arthurian novels have each lost over 50 pages. :/

chrismcmullen

Images from ShutterStock.

KENPC v2.0 February 1, 2016

Amazon KDP changed how it determines the Kindle Edition Normalized Page Count (KENPC).

This affects Kindle e-books enrolled in KDP Select, which can be borrowed via Kindle Unlimited and Amazon Prime.

KDP Select books borrowed through Kindle Unlimited or Amazon Prime pay by the page read, where a Kindle Edition Normalized Page (KENP) is determin...

Publication news and more from Ygerna for #WIPpet Wednesday

It’s been a while. I’ve been busy. With this:

And this:

And this:

Six years old!

Sheesh. Hard to believe I’ve been a grandmother so long. I’m not that old! Or maybe I am, given the way my face is falling and my knee refuses to play along when I attempt the warrior pose when doing yoga …

But anyway, back to writing. I’ve gotten an awful lot done in the weeks I’ve been absent from my blog. Not only have I formatted and published the e-book boxed set of Looking Through Lace, I’ve publishe...