Marissa Farrar's Blog, page 12

'Captured', Book 3 in the 'Serenity' Series is Now Available to Buy!

Wow! What an exciting 24 hours it has been! Yesterday saw the release of the third novel in my dark vampire 'Serenity' series and within the day the book hit the top 100 for fantasy on Amazon in both the States and the UK.

On top of that, the first book in the series, 'Alone', is currently offered for free and is sitting firmly in the number one spot on Amazon for free contemporary fantasy!

This whole thing has just been such an adventure and I can hardly believe that this is just the start. Though I was first published in 2009, it was only when I began releasing books myself that anything started happening. I'm currently only a year into this 'indie author' course of my career and I can't wait to discover what the next year will bring. I'm literally hearing from readers every day now, telling me how much they love my books. Nothing feels better than that.

'Captured' is my fourth published novel, but I still have plenty more to come! I have three completed manuscripts waiting patiently in my laptop. One of which, 'Underlife' is my personal favourite and I hope to have out in August. I could get the book out sooner, but I want to take a break from the editing for a while. I'm planning on writing my Young Adult spin-off over the summer and then I'll start editing again!

I've also made the decision of employing the services of the lovely Danielle at Philia Book Tours to help me do the one thing I'm terrible at in this business - scheduling guest blogs! She is going to be setting up blog posts for me each month so I hope she'll keep me in line. If I've got a deadline for anything, I'll always get it done, but if it's a case of 'I can do some writing or I can start contacting people to see if they'll have me on their blog' you can bet I'll chose the writing every time! Danielle is an absolute necessity for me if I'm going to start having a presence in the blogging world.

So don't forget, if you have not tried the series yet, you can read book one, 'Alone', for free at many different book sites, including Amazon. And, for the first week only, 'Captured' will be offered at only $0.99, so if you're thinking of working your way through the books, now is a good time to buy. Just click here to go through to Amazon!

Catch you all later. I'm off to plan book four!

Has KDP Select Lost Its Impact? And Reasons I'm Not Giving Up Just Yet!

There have been a lot of vibes around the writer's social networking sites lately about how KDP Select isn't having the same sort of impact as it was three months ago. Really, this is only to be expected. When KDP was first introduced back in December, it was met with polar views. Some of us jumped right on the band wagon, while others held back. Many people thought Amazon's attempt to monopolize the market was unethical and thought having all your eggs in one basket was always going to be a bad idea (something I do agree with).

However, as the fist month or so passed, those waiting on the sidelines started to hear amazing stories of indie authors propelled from obscurity and onto the best-seller lists. Here was a platform where the indie author could reach hundreds, if not thousands of people, all in the click of a button. So the months went by and more and more authors jumped on the KDP bandwagon. The result? Thousands of free eBooks flooded Amazon's virtual shelves. Competition to get free downloads increased, so instead of getting thousands of downloads each time a book went free, many were now struggling to hit hundreds. On top of that, readers started to get bored of downloads. They already had loads of free books loaded on their kindles - many of which they'd probably never get around to reading - so why bother adding more?

With all that against KDP Select, why am I still in the program? Well, that decision is pretty simple for me. I believe every single reader reached through KDP Select is a reader I wouldn't have otherwise found. So what if I only give away 200 books in my next free period? If only a quarter of those people go on to read the book and only half of those people actually enjoy the book, well that's twenty-five readers I've gained. If I can reach those readers through other means as well - by getting them to like my facebook page or signing up to my mailing list - quite possibly they'll be one of my guaranteed buyers, a reader who will follow me from book to book, will leave reviews and tell their friends. Those types of readers are worth their weight in gold and are what an author's career can be built on.

On top of this, over the next month or so, as author's 90 day exclusive periods are up and people start to pull their books from KDP Select, the level of competition will reduce. Hopefully the result will be that the number of downloads and those all important post-freebie sales will therefore increase.

So for the moment I'm sticking with KDP Select. I'm going to take advantage of being able to reach those few readers who may then go on to become long term fans. Six months from now, Amazon may withdraw authors being able to put their books up for free and those who didn't take full advantage will be kicking themselves. After all, eBooks are still a relatively new market. Who knows what will change the game next?

Read an eBook Week! Get Your Free Copy of 'Alone'!

I'm going to keep this one brief as I'm both swamped and exhausted after my weekend away at a writer's conference (not a good combination!).

This week is 'read an ebook week' over at Smashwords. If you head on over to the site, you'll find a  whole heap of ebooks either with discount codes or that are being offered for free!

My own novel, Alone, is currently FREE so click on the link here and grab it while you can. This offer will only continue for another week!

Covers, covers, covers...

One of the first things I advise other writers to do if their book is not selling is change the cover. Today I've had to take my own advice. My novel, 'The Dark Road', simply hasn't been selling the way I hoped. Even with the book being offered in the KDP Select program and having well known authors posting about it, I've been lucky to get three or four sales a week.

I know my blurb is well-written, the formatting is good, and it's got great reviews, so I'm left with only one place to go, and that's to the cover.

First of all, let me just say that I really love the original cover. The artist captured exactly what I had in my head and I've had numerous compliments about it. However, in order for me to know if a different cover will make any difference to sales, I need to give something different a go.

I checked out some other horror/thriller titles and decided to go with something a little more traditional. So... here it is! *unveils new cover*


What do you think?

Epic Kindle Giveaway!

Some mornings you wake up with no idea of exciting things the day may hold.

Today has been one of those days for me as I've had the invitation to join the Epic Kindle Giveaway team with Scott Nicholson. I'm thrilled (and a little in awe that I'm being allowed to paddle in the pool with the big boys!) to be part of any team with these authors involved (click on their names to find out more about each of them):

Scott Nicholson, Russell Blake, Claude Bouchard, Jeff Bennington, Ian Woodhead, John O'Dowd, and John Hartness.

So what's the epic kindle giveaway all about? Well, it's all about giving away great thriller, horror, mystery and suspense titles for the kindle. So, if you enjoy any of those genres (and by the fact you're on my page, I'm going to guess that you do!) make sure you follow the blogsite or head on over to the facebook page where you can stay informed about all the brand new titles that are popping up for FREE every day!
And if you don't have a kindle yet, you can download the 'kindle for pc.' app which is also free. That way, you can still make the most of all these free ebooks and when you get a kindle (notice I said, 'when' rather than 'if') your brand new, shiny kindle will automatically update with all the books you've been collecting.

Have a fabulous weekend everyone!

May the Editing Commence!

I'm super excited today (and a little hung over, but that's a whole other story!). Today I've started on edits for the third book in my 'Serenity' series, 'Captured'. I'm hoping everything will go smoothly and no huge plot holes will leap up and bite me on the ass! I was really happy with how the book turned out in the end, so as long as nothing unexpected happens, I'm still on for the book to be released at the end of March.

Because I'm feeling motivated at the moment, I'm aiming to complete about two chapters a day. Of course, then the book will need another go over, and then will be sent to my editor, who will send it back, and I'll then send it back to her... You can see the pattern forming! As much as I'm enthusiastic about the book right now, I'm pretty sure I'll hate the sight of it by the end of March!

At the same time, I'm also working on my Young Adult novel, 'Enchanted', which is a spin off of the 'Serenity' series. Those of you who've read the books can probably guess which little lady I'm basing the new books around. I'm pretty sure her half-vampire genetics will lead to some interesting story-lines.

L.J. Smith fired from writing The Vampire Diaries!

I read the original article for this over at Parafantasy and at first I was shocked. I love The Vampire Diaries and couldn't believe that Harper Collins has fired L.J. Smith from writing the books she's become famous for.

 However, when I looked into it, it seems L.J. Smith was employed to write the books by Harper Collins, she didn't actually come up with the idea herself (I may be wrong about this, so please, if I am, feel free to correct me.) She was employed to write the books 'for hire' which means she doesn't own a single word of the series. Same thing applies to her 'Secret Circle' series.

Basically L.J. Smith was no more than a contracted writer. Even though fans have come to love her work, Harper Collins has simply fired her and got in a new ghost writer.

It must be heartbreaking to know someone else is going to write the characters I'm sure she thinks of as her own. Creating a character is such a personal thing and I'd be amazed if a ghost writer can create the same books with the same voice.

This horrible situation has only done more to cement by belief that independent publishing is the way to go. Perhaps, if a big company offered me a disgusting amount of money, I'd happily hand over my books, but the whole thing just feels so cold, so cut-throat. Yes, it's business, but creating a book is a bit like childbirth; it's long and arduous, and often exhausting. To snatch the 'baby' away from it's 'mother' is simply wrong.

So what do you think? Are you a fan of the series? Will you still be watching the show or reading the books? Or are you an author; would you sell your series knowing that the publisher could fire you from writing it and get in someone new?

Finding a Balance

I'm on the verge of getting very frustrated with social networking. Every day it feels as though something new is popping up, some must-do, fantastic site which will help us sell loads of books and reach a new audience: Klout, Google+, Triberr... just to name a few.

Sure, I'm a fan of facebook and twitter, and obviously I use Blogger, but really I'm not sure if I can handle much more. I'm a writer because I want to write fiction, not because I want to be soliciting myself on numerous sites, trying to build up a name so people will recognise me and hopefully go on to buy my books.

Okay, I know I have to do some of that, but really, does it have to be quite so much? I know I need to build up my readership and to some extent I'm happy to do that. I just wonder if I'll be happier being a writer who is spending most of their time actually writing and is only earning a moderate wage, compared to a writer who doesn't do as much writing, but is selling loads because they're always playing the social networking card.

I guess it's like most things; a balance needs to be found. Yes, I'm living my dream, being able to write full time. But my dream never involved placing all my self-worth as a writer on what score I've got on Klout (I mean, someone actually messaged me on twitter to tell me what I had and then what they had. Why the hell would they think I'd care???).

Maybe if I get more involved in all these different sites, I'll propel my career into the stratosphere. But then maybe if I just keep writing and getting books out, I'll just naturally build up a following because people, instead of following me because they want to find out via twitter what I had for lunch, have just read and enjoyed my books over a number of years.

Sure, it's slow and steady, but it never did authors in the past any harm!

KDP Select: Thoughts and Experiences So Far...

Last month, when KDP Select popped up, I jumped at the chance of trying it (click here for my initial thoughts). While I never thought I would get big rental numbers, it was the option of having my book offered for free for 5 days that initially got me excited. I've managed to get a couple of shorter titles (which I've written to use as promo for my full length novels) up for free via Amazon price matching and both times the sales of my novels have sky-rocketed, both hitting the best seller list for their genres.

So, my initial plan was to get promotional titles into KDP Select and then offer them for free with a big chunk of my novel attached, together with a whole heap of buy links. So, that's what I did. But something surprised me. What I wasn't expecting was for sales to continue after the free promotion started! When my zombie novelette, 'The Body Farm' went up for free for two days, the highest it reached was #5 on the free horror charts. When it went back to 'paid' it dropped right back and then started climbing again. The highest it ended was #13 on horror and I sold more books in a day then I did in a month.

After a week or so, it did start to drop again. But the thing is, I only ever intended on using 'The Body Farm' to promote my new novel, 'The Dark Road'. When I did the initial freebie, the book wasn't out yet, but I wanted to give people a taster and didn't want to miss out on the busy holiday season. This weekend, 'The Body Farm' is going up for free once again, and this time it will contain the buy links for 'The Dark Road'. I'm hoping this will generate some sales for my novel, but we will see.

So, you may be wondering, why did sales continue? It was because of the little 'people who bought this, also bought this' box on the Amazon page. If your book has been downloaded several thousand times, your book suddenly gets exposure like it never did before. This little box is key!

In the end, I only had 9 rentals last month, but I had about four thousand downloads and sold a couple of hundred books. Not a bad result considering I hadn't even uploaded the book anywhere else and only intended on using it to market my novel.

Here are some points:

If you're going to put your full length novel up for free, make sure the book is in a good position for people to want to download it. Make sure it's got some great reviews!Don't be tempted just to put your book up for free for one day. As soon as it's gaining some momentum and you're getting excited, it'll go back to paid again and won't have created the impact you need.If you want rentals, you're more likely to get these if your book is at a higher price. People only get one rental a month, why would they bother with a title that's only 0.99?
So what are my plans about the rest of my book and KDP Select? Well, today I enrolled one of my M.K. romance novels, 'Escape'. Sales have always been slow on this one and I figure I've got nothing to lose. I'm hoping to generate a few more reviews before I put it up for free, but then I'll just have to sit back and watch.

I am sorely tempted to put the first novel in my 'Serenity' series into the program, but if I do, it will be in March, when the third book is out.

As for my new novel, 'The Dark Road', I'm going to see what happens this weekend with the freebie and then I'll make the decision about entering it into KDP. At the moment, I think I probably will, but not right yet. I want the book to gain some reviews first in order to encourage downloads.

I still don't like the idea of Amazon having so much power, but until the other eBook sites come up with something innovative to help indie authors sell books, I think it's a chance worth taking. After all, it's only for 90 days (if you so choose) and in the life time of  book, that is nothing.

If you'd like to read my new novel, 'The Dark Road' is now available from Amazon. And if you'd like to get a freebie, together with the first twelve chapters of 'The Dark Road', 'The Body Farm' will be FREE to download this Thursday, Friday and Saturday!

Winners of My Blog Hop Contest... Was it You???

Hi everyone! Sorry I'm so late announcing my winners. These few days after New Year seem to have flown by and I've been procrastinating, so apologies!

My winners have been chosen via the very technological method of popping names in a hat and getting my two year old to pick out three. Those who facebooked and tweeted were added in three times. So, here are the winners...

First prize of the $10 Amazon gift card and one of my books of their choice is... Malvina Bellatrix!

Second Prize of two of my books of their choice is... Ash Krafton!

Third Prize of one of my books of their choice is... Ryanac32!

I'll be contacting each of the winners via email, facebook or twitter. Congrats everyone and thanks to everyone else for entering.