Ruth Nestvold's Blog, page 5
September 26, 2017
Creating Aliens by Deborah Walker
A nice article about creating alien species for science fiction!
When I first started writing, I read Orson Scott Card’s advice about creating aliens in How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy. Card discusses developing the evolution of the distinct biology of an alien species, and how that imagined evolutionary process informs both an individual’s thoughts and actions and the aliens’ culture.
That was advice I could really sink my teeth into. I’ve written a fair few aliens...
September 21, 2017
Yseult on Sale for 99c through Oct. 20!
In anticipation of the upcoming release of the Pendragon Chronicles prequel novel, Ygerna, I have lowered the price of Yseult to 99c through October 20.
Amazon
B&N
Kobo
Apple
Smashwords
Google Play
And no, I still do not have a release date for Ygerna. My editor’s computer died, which has set her back several days while she transfers data and sets up the new computer.
This kind of thing is why I really don’t like doing much pre-release promotion. Not everything is in my hands, and if an e...
September 19, 2017
A Good Resource for eBook Sale Sites
I haven’t had a lot of time recently to update my various pages for places you can advertise eBook promos, so I thought I would share this site I found:
https://blog.reedsy.com/book-promotion-services/
It has an especially nice feature that you can click a button to only show free sites.
I should soon have news on the publishing front regarding Ygerna. Just waiting for the file back from the editor. 
August 29, 2017
The Visibility Gambit
Kindle Unlimited has received a fair bit of bad press over the last couple of years – some of it from me – but I want to balance that by looking at the positives.
Most pertinent is KU’s popularity with readers, meaning there can be huge opportunity for authors. Especially so if you make full use of the tools Amazon gives you, and understand that it’s all about visibility.
Enrolling in KU comes at a well-documented cost: exclusivity. But it’s the potential benefits I want to fo...
August 21, 2017
Group Promos for August: Free YA Books and 99c SFF
These days, the ROI for paid advertising seems to be getting worse and worse, so I’m trying to put more of my energy into group promos and building my mailing lists. Plural because I’m still experimenting and haven’t settled on a provider yet. OTOH, I may eventually stick with multiple newsletters to keep readers with different interests apart. I had so many unsubscribes from my main mailing list earlier this year when I announced the publication of Starting Out as an Indie Author that I got...
August 12, 2017
The Only Rule Amazon Truly Cares About
Another case of Amazon unresponsiveness. [image error]
On Monday, I found out that some bug hit a German e-book site causing the reactivation of long-dead listings, including one of mine, putting myself and some other authors in breach of KDP Select’s exclusivity rule.
Amazon pounced into action and cancelled my Countdown deal which was scheduled for this week, screwing up a carefully planned promotion. And despite pledging to resolve the matter and restore the promo, Amazon has not done s...
August 4, 2017
How Amazon continues to do its best to piss off its writers: The odyssey of establishing my rights to Looking Through Lace
I’m sitting here listening to a yellow jacket determined to commit suicide in one of my wall lamps, and wondering why Amazon seems so hell-bent on annoying its authors these days.
This weekend, August 5-6, Patty Jansen is hosting another big 99c promo with 100 books in various science fiction and fantasy genres. I entered my boxed set of Looking Through Lace, Books 1 & 2, and was accepted. Only now it looks like my book won’t be on sale — at least not on Amazon. And it’s anyone’s guess if I...
August 3, 2017
Two More Days and These Will be History
Mybookcave.com is running a free promotion for just two more days. Thirteen historical novels – no money. What could be better. Check them out HERE. We’ve got some pretty fascinating times and places – Ancient Egypt, Byzantium, the Middle Ages, the American Revolutionary War,Antarctica at 1900 and more. Love, war, betrayal, triumph. We’ve got it all, baby! Come have a looksee:
As of Saturday they’ll be history, so click quick.
July 31, 2017
What I Do When I Take a Break From Writing, Part II
A couple weeks back, I shared some sewing projects I did to reward myself for sending Ygerna off to beta readers. Strangely enough, one of those projects has already had over 30 repins on Pinterest.
July 20, 2017
A Wrinkle in Time as a Movie!
I am probably way behind everyone here, being in the outbacks of Central Europe and all, but I just learned that A Wrinkle in Time is being made into a movie! It was one of my all-time favorite books as a kid, and probably one of the main reasons I became a science fiction and fantasy addict — and eventually a science fiction and fantasy writer.
