Jennifer Becton's Blog, page 39

At Fault: Cover and Release Date

I’m thrilled to announce that At Fault (Southern Fraud Thriller 3) will become available on ebook on April 1, 2013, and the paperback will follow shortly thereafter. (Paperbacks require extra formatting and proofing, so they always take a few extra days for shipping the physical book.)

Next week, I will begin writing Moral Hazard (Southern Fraud Thriller 4), and my tentative release date is Fall/Winter 2013 with the final two books in the series being published by the end of 2014. That’s an aggressive writing schedule, but that is my current plan. I reserve the right to adjust that according to reality.

And if you haven’t already signed up for the Southern Fraud Launch list, you can do it right here. That way you’ll be notified the moment the book goes one sale.

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Charlotte Collins Audiobook in Production Now

I’m stoked to announce that Charlotte Collins: A Continuation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is in production now! This is another dream come true for me. I’ve always harbored a long-shot desire to see one of my books made into a TV show or movie. I even cast the actors in my mind as I’m writing. But turning my book into a TV show is not a goal in my power to reach. That’s a total dream. I cannot make that happen.

But recently I became aware of Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX), where publishers and narrators can find each other and collaborate on audiobook projects. I got to listen to some excellent narration auditions, and it was just amazing to hear the voices of my characters come alive. Audiobooks are probably as close as my books will come to the screen (silver, small, or otherwise), and I am beyond excited about the actress who will be narrating Charlotte Collins! She is truly fantastic.

At this point, I cannot even begin to predict when the audiobook will be available for sale. (According to the contract, it may take ACX 6 months to put the book on sale. Yikes.) But it’s in the works.

This is my first foray into audiobooks, so I don’t have a full understanding of the process yet, but if you’re interested in learning more about audiobooks, I’ll be blogging about what I’ve learned so far at Indie Jane on Friday.

Random News II

Here are a few articles worth a glance. Some of these amused me particularly, starting with this one:  Amazon’s New Reviewing Policies say that authors cannot review books in their genre. Obviously, it’s their company and their choice how to run their reviews, but it seems a bit silly to me to police in-genre reviews so stringently and yet allow reviewers to leave negative reviews because they accidentally ordered a book on Kindle and didn’t know how to return it or because something went wrong with the download. But I digress.

Publishers Weekly says print sales down 9 percent.

But BN and the Nook aren’t doing so well either. This one is probably the most amusing because BN news has been all over the place since the beginning of the year. First, they’re getting a big influx of cash and the company will be saved, and then, they’re closing stores. That’s proof that throwing money at something isn’t always the answer.

However, the paperback won’t die out. (Jury’s out on the Nook).

News confusing? Self-publishing more work than it’s worth? Well, you could choose this.

 

Up Next

At Fault is in the editorial phase. That means a story editor will be offering suggestions for improving the book and then I’ll make the appropriate adjustments before sending the completed text to the copy editor.

In the meantime, I’ll be working on the cover, which is always really fun for me. I have grandiose plans for this one. Now, I just hope my photo-editing skills can live up to my vision. I’m also going to be doing some just for fun writing in order to keep things fresh and interesting.

My next major writing project will be book 4 in the Southern Fraud series. Should I tell you the title? I suppose that won’t hurt. Book 4′s working title is Moral Hazard. The rapist plot line will intensify, and Julia will have to begin facing the consequences for her actions in the past. Poor Jules. But of course, Vincent will be by her side.

Also in the works are the audiobook editions of all my novels, starting with Charlotte Collins and Caroline Bingley. I’m very excited about hearing my books read aloud by skilled actors. Seriously. It’s been so much fun, and this is probably as close as I’ll ever get to having my books on the big or small screen. Auditions have been pouring in, and I’m selecting a narrator at the end of this week.

 

Celebrating 200 Years of Pride and Prejudice

Although Jane Austen’s birthday has already come and gone, I wanted to share a fan letter I wrote to Jane Austen on the occasion of her 236th birthday:

Dear Miss Austen,

In celebration of your birthday, my gift to you would be to tell you about your legacy. (Though it is actually a gift you gave yourself.) Through your books, you have achieved a certain type of immortality. They have become movies and musicals, and you yourself have even become the heroine of novels and movies. You have awakened the creativity of other writers, and you have shown generations of women what a true gentleman ought to be.

And I would like you to know that women no longer have to marry for reasons other than love. We are free to follow our hearts, just as you dreamed.

That knowledge is my birthday gift to you, if only I could tell you.

And to all your fans, I’d like to offer two gifts in honor of the 200th anniversary of Pride and Prejudice:

To everyone, A free epub (Nook, Kobo) copy of Charlotte Collins: A Continuation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. You can download my novel free at Kobo. You do NOT need a Kobo Reader in order to take advantage of this gift. Epubs are also used on Nooks and Apple devices. You may also read the book on your own computer or phone by downloading the free Kobo apps.
To one lucky winner, a free ebook copy (any version) of all my Austenesque works in the Personages of Pride & Prejudice collection. Use the Rafflecopter Form below to enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

P&P 200th Anniversary

You’re invited to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice with a blog hop hosted by Alyssa Goodnight and Courtney Webb! Participants will be writing fan letters to Jane Austen and there will most certainly be giveaways, so mark your calendars!

Ps. Check out these two new Austenesque books by my friends at Indie Jane!

Kobo No Go?

Making books free at Kobo? So far, crickets.

One of the most difficult aspects of being an indie publisher is finding ways to ensure that readers see your books. Marketing isn’t about forcing someone to buy something; it’s about putting the option in front of them and letting them choose whether or not they are interested in exchanging their money for the product.

As I mentioned in my previous post about not marketing in 2013, it has become increasingly difficult to get my books in front of potential readers. All the experts have been advising not spending marketing money and instead allowing the internal marketing of retailers to do the work for you.

But what happens when the internal marketing isn’t doing its part? One of the advantages of selling directly through Kobo was supposed to be the internal marketing. And I’ve read lots of reviews by bigger name indies touting just this benefit. “My books are being seen! I’m selling tons! Kobo is better than BN for internal marketing!”

What I have discovered is that most of these successful Kobo authors have received some sort of “special” promotion beyond the norm from Kobo. Their free books have been listed on special “free ebook lists” or they have been advertised on email or special catalogs. I haven’t had these benefits, and literally, I cannot give my books away at Kobo.

Charlotte Collins and Death Benefits, my two most successful freebies on Amazon, have been free for 8 days on Kobo. The response:

Crickets.

I know my books are not inherently unlikable. They are highly reviewed at all venues, and the Southern Fraud series has sold almost 60,000 copies to date. In addition, I’ve had huge success with them as free titles at Amazon, and it only takes 12 hours for the downloads to cross into the thousands there. As far as social media marketing, I haven’t done anything differently. I’ve done the same marketing as I do for other sales outlets. I’ve Facebooked, I’ve tweeted, I’ve blogged. I don’t know how to reach Kobo readers. I’d love tips if you have any!

In fiddling around on Kobo, I discovered that my books were not listed on the “free ebooks list,” and when I emailed Kobo, I was informed that the list is only for selected titles, not all free titles are listed there. Okay, that’s fine. It’s their company, and they can highlight whatever titles they want.

My complaint is the same as it has been about BN in the past: unless readers know my books are there, they are unfindable. You can’t search “free books” and find my books. And unless you search my name, book title, or go to the very end of the categories in which my books are listed, you won’t just happen across them. In theory, if I sold a book or two, I would have a fighting chance at being seen. But it’s a vicious circle. I can’t be found, so no one will buy, so I can’t be found. That’s why I elected to make two titles free. I thought it would help the books be seen. Unfortunately, that has not been my experience.

In short, I haven’t seen any benefits from Kobo’s internal marketing.

 

Kobo Freebies

I’m hoping to get my relationship with Kobo and its loyal readers off to a good start by offering Charlotte Collins and Death Benefits free. So if you have a Kobo reader come over and download for these ebooks free.

No Kobo? Then download their free reading apps.

Or if you already have an ereader (Nook, for instance) that uses .epubs, these files will work for you.

Enjoy!

All Whiteley Press Books at All Online Retailers

Hear ye, hear ye!

As of Monday, January 7, 2013 all Whiteley Press ebooks have been made available for sale at most major online retailers, including Amazon, Kobo, BN, Apple iBookstore, Baker and Taylor, Diesel, Sony Reader Store, and Smashwords. It will take 24-48 hours for the books to go live in most locations, longer for Apple and Sony unfortunately, and I’ll add more and better links to my blog and website for your convenience.

Random News Roundup

Keeping up with book industry news is important for writers, whether they are published by one of the Big 6 or are publishing themselves independently. Why? Because you and your books don’t exist in a vacuum. What happens “out there” in the publishing world will have some effect on you and your books, and if you want to make the best decisions possible, then it makes sense to pay attention and get all the facts.

With that in mind, I’ve decided to start compiling links to articles that I find interesting and useful. I’m not sure how frequently I’ll do this, maybe monthly. We shall see.

So here we go:

Anne R. Allen’s post Indie Publishing in 2013: Why We Can’t Party Like It’s 2009 has gotten a lot of traction, and there’s some good stuff here. It does seem more difficult to market books now than it was when I published Charlotte Collins: A Continuation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice in 2010. Marketing venues and techniques that worked then are less successful now, and thanks to Amazon’s algorithm changes, the $.99 price point is less effective for gaining visibility. However, I am not as quick to believe that Amazon is trying to limit indies or that the DOJ decision is detrimental to our success. I think the changes are largely due to the rapid growth of the indie book publishing world.

On that subject, Bowker’s report on self-publishing will tell you exactly how much the indie pubbing industry has grown: 287 percent in 5 years (based on numbers through 2011). That means there are almost 3 times the number of self-published titles as there were in 2006.

So how do you share your books with readers if there’s so much competition out there? Dean Wesley Smith has good ideas. Among my favorites are: make every book better, be nice, and keep learning the business.

Lest you start to think it’s only hard out there on indies, take a gander at News Corps problems. The industry is changing for everyone, not just us.

What will you be doing differently in the new year as the publishing world continues to change?