Crystal Green's Blog, page 22

Just a few things I learned at the NINC conference....

Pithy digital publishing tips from the Novelists, Inc. (NINC) conference!
On quality:
·  1)  Covers--in addition to making sure you’ve got a cover that pops, make sure it looks good in black and white postage stamp-size.  Make sure the title is clear, and make the author’s name BIG.  Make sure the message that’s relayed by the cover is “This is a real book.”  What that means is that it is polished.  Also, people have already used a browser to find your book, so they have an idea of what it’s about, etc.  The cover hopefully closes the deal.
·  2)   Make the inside of your book polished, too.  Some authors use three proofers to go over their books!  Some prefer to have backlist titles typed in, rather than scanned, because scanning results in too many errors that proofers might not catch.  A good typist doesn’t make nearly as many errors.  
On raising your profile:
 1)  In general, it gets easier to raise your profile if you have more than one book out there.
·2)  Pay attention to the keywords you use, because they can really draw people to your work.  Use settings, situations, character names...· 3)  Newsletter: Make it more interesting with factoids and pictures.  Gear it toward your readers, using the word “you”; make it about them rather than just yourself.  Do giveaways or swag.  In a word, engage* them!
·  4) If you use Goodreads, don’t go on there to promote to death.  Go on because you are a true reader.  J·        BTW, Goodreads is planning to host e-book giveaways within 6-9 months.
On sales:
·       1)    Make the most out of the “back of the book”: include your backlist as well as hyperlinks to them.  Always put your site there.
·        2) If you don’t want to “go free” with your books, consider pricing them down to $.99.  This puts the book into a different “world” than giving them away for free, because it attracts a customer who’ll be willing to pay a little more.·        When your sales briefly spike because of the value offer, make the most of it--maybe you could have an excerpt from an upcoming book in the value book with a pre-buy link, or at the very least, include your site/Twitter/FB/newsletter info.  But since we live in an instant world, the pre-buy link would be the best.  Also, raise your price shortly after the promo to take advantage of the spike.
·      3)   It’s smart to have a digital release every 6-7 months, even if you just put out a short story to remind your readers that you’re still out there.
On expanding your reach:
·        1)  If you’re going to do a foreign edition of your book, your cover needs to reflect the culture of the country.
·       2)   Think about doing a manga version of your book for Japan.  Big sales.  Lots of work, though.  If you’re thinking of getting your book translated, keep in mind that this works best if you have a large backlist and good sales.     ·      3)   Think of encouraging readers to give e-books as holiday gifts.
In general:
·         It seems that backlist digital releases are doing better than originals.·         Historical romance is doing well in the $2.99-$3.99 price range.·         Rumor has it that romantic comedy is making a comeback!

Bitten By Books Event Today!

Come out and play!

GothicScapes is having a launch party for UNDEAD FOR A DAY over at the fabulous Bitten By Books site.

http://www.bittenbybooks.com/?p=57872

Click the above to go there for paranormal chatter and the chance to win one of three prizes:


1st prize: Kindle, Wi-Fi, 6" E Ink Display
2ndprize: $25 Amazon gift card 3rdprize: One backlist book from each GothicScapes author
You can also enter by clicking on the link below:
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/82e2fd29/" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway
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UNDEAD FOR A DAY is out!

It feels like it's been forever, but UNDEAD FOR A DAY has gone live!

First off, here's the buy link for this e-book:  http://www.amazon.com/Undead-Day-Urban-fantasy-ebook/dp/B009O61DHK/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1349880902&sr=1-3&keywords=undead+for+a+day%3A+urban+fantasy


Second, this is so very exciting.  Nancy, Linda, and I are so proud and happy about how this turned out, from the novellas themselves to the beautiful cover.  As most of you know, I wanted to continue my Vampire Babylon series, and self-pubbing was the way to go.  Besides, I love writing novellas just as much as I love reading them, and I have to say that I enjoyed Nancy's and Linda's stories as a pure fan!

I don't know about you guys, but I usually go on a Halloween binge around this time of year.  I devour short stories in particular, plus scary movies.  So I'm ecstatic to actually be a part of Halloween with this collection, which centers around Samhain/All Hallow's Eve.  Here's the blurb so you can get a better sense of what the three stories are about:


Samhain. All Hallow’s Eve. A night when zombie-like revenants can be raised by a magic-using, ancient family to exact revenge on the hunter who wrecked their underground kingdom... A time when a redheaded blackbelt pits herself against warmongering witch clans... A holiday that allows the Underworld to open and the creatures to pour out, their freedom governed by a gentleman's agreement between the forces of Light and Dark.
Welcome to UNDEAD FOR A DAY, a collection of three novellas from a trio of reader favorite urban fantasy writers: Chris Marie Green, AKA Christine Cody (Vampire Babylon and Bloodlands series), New York Times Bestseller Nancy Holder (Wicked and Teen Wolf series), and Linda Thomas-Sundstrom (Vampire Moons and Wolf Moons series).
“Raising the Darkness” by Chris Marie Green (A Dawn Madison Vampire Babylon novella) reunites you with former hunter Dawn Madison, who hasn’t been the same since she retired from the life. She’s tired and drained from injuries sustained during the team’s last stand against the dragon, but when the clock strikes twelve on Samhain, everything changes. It seems that someone has sent raised-from-the-dark creatures after her, and they’re out for blood—as well as Dawn’s life.
In “Into the Fire” by Nancy Holder (A Story of the Favored,) Bridget Flynn leaps into a bonfire and goes from Samhain year wife at the first stroke of midnight to widow on the last. Caught in the middle of a feud between rival magical Houses, Bridget raises a battle force of her own. But can she survive in the midst of hot-tempered witches intent on destroying each other?
 “Trapped in Stone” by Linda Thomas-Sundstrom takes us to Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, where the forces of Good and Evil are playing a game of Chicken with one man's soul, and the woman he loves is a major player in a challenge that has continued for a century.

“Enchanting, mysterious, powerfully written…Dawn Madison and herunderground entourage will charm you with everything an urban fantasy should be.  Be prepared for a wonderfully wicked, kick-ass night of Samhain fun.  Whether you are new to the Vampire Babylon series or a loyal fan--you will love this story!”---Sheri Whitefeather, kindle and national bestselling author.
I hope you join me on this new journey through Vampire Babylon-land!  There'll be another GothicScapes anthology with another VB novella come December, but enjoy this first.  ; )

Latest Contest Winner!

Congrats to Beth Reimer, winner of the latest contest on www.crystal-green.com! New contest: $25 Amazon gift certificate...

Giveaway, Blog, and Chatter!

Join us over at Night Owls for a giveaway and some chatter!

http://nightowlromanceblog.blogspot.com/2012/10/linda-thomas-sundstrom-beyond-fangs.html

Vampire Babylon Sighting!

Ah!  Check this out!  Young Vampire Babylon reader, you rock!
(Thank you to Suzie B.K. for putting this on Facebook!)

Guest blog and giveaway!

Hey, you all,

I'm representing GothicScapes today over at Selena Illyria's blog, so come on over to learn a little more about our first release and for a chance to win books!

 www.selenaillyria.com/blog

Cover for UNDEAD FOR A DAY!

Get ready... Early October... Coming to your e-readers--three original urban fantasy stories!


I just love this cover.  Thank you to Frauke at Croco Designs for nailing it!  We just put up a Facebook page, too, so would you please like us?  ; )

http://www.facebook.com/pages/GothicScapes/114601045356106?ref=hl

Flying High!

Okay--been in a whirlwind lately.  But what's new?

First, we just found out today that Nancy Holder, Linda Thomas-Sundstrom, and I are going to be on a panel at Comikaze in Los Angeles.  Saturday, the 15th (Yes, that's next week, LOL.), 12pm.  Don't know the room yet, but I'm happy we're going!

Second, I'm flying so high because I kicked butt on some chapters today!  I'm currently writing the new series I told you about before...Jensen Murphy: Ghost for Hire. I'm high on all the fun research I get to do and I'm high on Jen, because she's a ghost from the 80s.  Yeah, she was murdered, but girls still want to have fun...in the afterlife.  When they're not solving crimes.

Third, UNDEAD FOR A DAY, GothicScapes #1, is still coming together.  The formatted text is going to the *real* formatting person, who will make sure it is suitable for posting/publishing.  Whoo!  Step by step, we're getting closer to that October release date.

Fourth, I've got that second St. Valentine, Texas, Special Edition (written as Crystal Green) coming out this month, and DADDY IN THE MAKING is hitting the shelves in only a couple of weeks!

Last, I'm still waiting for the most recent contest winner to claim her prize, so if any of you entered, could you please check your inboxes?  Thanks!

Have a great weekend...

Formatting Camp for GothicScapes

So Nancy, Linda, and I survived our formatting camp!

You guys, I never knew it was such work to format.  I mean, all this time with print pub, I've been just writing my books, making sure there are no egregious mistakes in them, and sending them off to New York where, POOF!, magic happens.  I've never had to deal with spaces at the ends of paragraphs and junk like that.  Something I learned during formatting camp (BESIDES *EVERYTHING*?): I need to start getting used to italicizing instead of underlining, as New York has us do with words and thoughts that need to be emphasized.

Let's not even talk about what to do with ellipses!

During lunch, Linda, Nancy, and I talked about price points and some promo.  We decided that we're going to spring our beautiful UNDEAD FOR A DAY cover on the world in mid-September.  And we talked about going to the Romantic Times convention since we'll be on two panels together.  (I'll also be at the Harlequin Reader event and Club RT, so I hope you'll look me up if you're going in 2013!)

Within the next couple of days, Linda, who has been working her butt off with "the book work," will be putting the manuscript together, then sending it off to Formatting Guy, who lives in England.  I'm just dying to see the final product.  We even put together a "Coming Soon" page that's going to be at the end of the book, complete with teasers about what you can expect from our second GothicScapes release, STRANGE SPIRITS in December!