Susan Buchanan's Blog, page 32
June 1, 2012
The Versatile Blogger Awards
Happy Friday everyone! I was nominated for a Versatile Blogger Award yesterday by Kate from Me, MyBooks and I. I am going to apologise in advance, as having spent over an hour trying to figure out how to get your links to display on my blog and failing miserably, I'd rather just send you the award, even with the long link, as otherwise I might have to go and jump off a skyscraper!
The HTML has defeated me!
Anyway, here first of all is the Versatile Blogger Award -
Thanks go first of all to Kate from MeMyBooksandI - http://memybooksandi.wordpress.com for giving me the award. Me, My Books and I is a great book review site for contemporary and chick-lit books mainly and one of my favourites.
The rules of this award are:Thank the person who gave you this award, and include a link to their blog.Next, select 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly. If it’s a bit of a task to list 15, and I don’t want you to feel being nominated is a burden, but mention as many as you can – 8 or 10 is fine. List them, and you might like to include a link to the sites, and let them know that you’ve nominated them.And tell the person who nominated you seven things about yourself
Ok, 7 things about me
1) I speak 5 languages and keep trying to learn new ones, but have never gotten to grips with German
2) I love elephants, pandas, sea horses and beluga whales
3) I have a major crush on Rupert Penry Jones - only discovered in the past 2 weeks! I have a lot of Spooks and Persuasion to catch up on.
4) I have visited 45 countries at last count
5) The first record I have ever bought was The Smurf Song
6) I ran with the Queens Relay Baton for the Commonwealth Games (kinda like the Olympic Torch) , when I was a teenage athlete
7) I am really clumsy and am constantly covered in little bruises and say 'Ow!' a lot
I would like to pass this award on to the following people, whose blogs I read as regularly as I can
Dizzy C's Little Book Blog - http://dizzycslittlebookblog.blogspot.co.uk/
Me, My Books and I - http://memybooksandi.wordpress.com
Terry Tyler (author) - http://terrytyler59.blogspot.co.uk/
Seumas Gallacher (author) http://seumasgallacher.com/
Rachel Abbott (author) - http://rachelabbottwriter.wordpress.com/
Ashley Barron (author) - http://blog.thepriyas.com/
Paul Dorset (author) - http://blog.pauldorset.com/
Joanne Phillips (author) http://joannegphillips.wordpress.com/
Rebecca Scarberry (writer) - http://scarberryfieldsforever.blogspot.co.uk/
Edward G Gordon at Gamblers Game - http://gamblersgame.co.uk/
Tracie Banister at Books by Banister - http://traciebanister.blogspot.co.uk/
Jeras Jamboree - http://jerasjamboree.wordpress.com/
I'm sure I will have missed some people out, but my brain is now mush from all the attempted HTML nonsense.
Well done on great blogs and hope you have an excellent weekend - sun is coming out in Glasgow! Sooz
PS for those of you who are not technically minded, use the long links - don't fight with the HTML. You will be fizzing mad by the end of it!
The HTML has defeated me!
Anyway, here first of all is the Versatile Blogger Award -
Thanks go first of all to Kate from MeMyBooksandI - http://memybooksandi.wordpress.com for giving me the award. Me, My Books and I is a great book review site for contemporary and chick-lit books mainly and one of my favourites.
The rules of this award are:Thank the person who gave you this award, and include a link to their blog.Next, select 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly. If it’s a bit of a task to list 15, and I don’t want you to feel being nominated is a burden, but mention as many as you can – 8 or 10 is fine. List them, and you might like to include a link to the sites, and let them know that you’ve nominated them.And tell the person who nominated you seven things about yourself
Ok, 7 things about me
1) I speak 5 languages and keep trying to learn new ones, but have never gotten to grips with German
2) I love elephants, pandas, sea horses and beluga whales
3) I have a major crush on Rupert Penry Jones - only discovered in the past 2 weeks! I have a lot of Spooks and Persuasion to catch up on.
4) I have visited 45 countries at last count
5) The first record I have ever bought was The Smurf Song
6) I ran with the Queens Relay Baton for the Commonwealth Games (kinda like the Olympic Torch) , when I was a teenage athlete
7) I am really clumsy and am constantly covered in little bruises and say 'Ow!' a lot
I would like to pass this award on to the following people, whose blogs I read as regularly as I can
Dizzy C's Little Book Blog - http://dizzycslittlebookblog.blogspot.co.uk/
Me, My Books and I - http://memybooksandi.wordpress.com
Terry Tyler (author) - http://terrytyler59.blogspot.co.uk/
Seumas Gallacher (author) http://seumasgallacher.com/
Rachel Abbott (author) - http://rachelabbottwriter.wordpress.com/
Ashley Barron (author) - http://blog.thepriyas.com/
Paul Dorset (author) - http://blog.pauldorset.com/
Joanne Phillips (author) http://joannegphillips.wordpress.com/
Rebecca Scarberry (writer) - http://scarberryfieldsforever.blogspot.co.uk/
Edward G Gordon at Gamblers Game - http://gamblersgame.co.uk/
Tracie Banister at Books by Banister - http://traciebanister.blogspot.co.uk/
Jeras Jamboree - http://jerasjamboree.wordpress.com/
I'm sure I will have missed some people out, but my brain is now mush from all the attempted HTML nonsense.
Well done on great blogs and hope you have an excellent weekend - sun is coming out in Glasgow! Sooz
PS for those of you who are not technically minded, use the long links - don't fight with the HTML. You will be fizzing mad by the end of it!
May 31, 2012
Hi folks - Here's the interview I did the other day with ...
Hi folks - Here's the interview I did the other day with Edward G Gordon from Gamblers Game - http://bit.ly/Krs0py - bits n pieces on my Marketing efforts and how I write. ta ta for now, Sooz
May 29, 2012
Back in the Saddle/Time Management
hi all
Well, having had some much deserved and needed beauty sleep post promo, I then found myself still tweeting like a mad thing. Not as much as Fri-Sun of the promo, but still a lot. And I was preparing some interviews and replying to new followers and trying to work out optimal sales periods and best times to tweet without driving everyone mental or inundating them.
BUT, now I am writing again!! Yay! Yippee!! What a rush! I hadn't written for three solid weeks. I've been trying to do it for about a week now, but have been reading, doing housework and all other rubbish that gets in the way. But last night I said to myself, writing is to be the new first thing in the morning activity and I cranked out 3000 words today. So am really chuffed. Plus it makes me so ridiculously happy that I want to dance round the room.
Am going to try to stick to my new rule from now on, as I actually want to have The Dating Game out sooner rather than later. Also, I realised how much I missed my new characters. Anton in particular is a sweetheart, albeit a sexy one...
Getting Back in the Saddle ties in very appropriately with the age-old and much dreaded Time Management. Now, I am Queen of Lists, Queen of Spreadsheets and Queen of Planning. It's actually quite a large kingdom I have! But no amount of writing down your good intentions will make them happen. YOU have to make them happen. So every day, rather than say, 'I need to do this', I am going to go back to my old Sales background and say, 'What must I do today or I will be shot?' Once I've cleared those tasks, I can start on the rest.
It's a very difficult call. We, as writers think, and obviously there is some truth in this, that we need to tweet, promote and advertise to generate interest. However, and as other authors have shared with me, sometimes when you've had enough and can't tweet anymore or are sick of updating Facebook or whatever non-writing activity it is you're engaged in, you sell more! I know, it's warped, unfair, makes no sense, but it happens and has in fact happened to me today so far - fingers crossed it continues! So, I am going to take a very good author friend's advice and do less marketing for a bit and more writing (to be honest that wouldn't be difficult).
I think - and there IS no magic formula - that we have to identify the percentage of our time we wish to spend on our novels and split it up into writing (the major chunk), tweeting and other advertising, interviews, where appropriate and things like admin (following, unfollowing, sales figures, etc) and try as far as humanly possible to stick to those percentages.
I'm not going to discuss building platforms or Amazon algorithms, as much has already been written on this of late. Suffice to say, I am aware of these topics and you need to be too!
Anyway, that's my tuppence-worth for today. Am off to see what Anton and Gill are up to....
Sooz
Sign of the Times is available here for UK buyers - http://amzn.to/GKqZGd & for US/other (.com) - http://amzn.to/IYN0Fc
Well, having had some much deserved and needed beauty sleep post promo, I then found myself still tweeting like a mad thing. Not as much as Fri-Sun of the promo, but still a lot. And I was preparing some interviews and replying to new followers and trying to work out optimal sales periods and best times to tweet without driving everyone mental or inundating them.
BUT, now I am writing again!! Yay! Yippee!! What a rush! I hadn't written for three solid weeks. I've been trying to do it for about a week now, but have been reading, doing housework and all other rubbish that gets in the way. But last night I said to myself, writing is to be the new first thing in the morning activity and I cranked out 3000 words today. So am really chuffed. Plus it makes me so ridiculously happy that I want to dance round the room.
Am going to try to stick to my new rule from now on, as I actually want to have The Dating Game out sooner rather than later. Also, I realised how much I missed my new characters. Anton in particular is a sweetheart, albeit a sexy one...
Getting Back in the Saddle ties in very appropriately with the age-old and much dreaded Time Management. Now, I am Queen of Lists, Queen of Spreadsheets and Queen of Planning. It's actually quite a large kingdom I have! But no amount of writing down your good intentions will make them happen. YOU have to make them happen. So every day, rather than say, 'I need to do this', I am going to go back to my old Sales background and say, 'What must I do today or I will be shot?' Once I've cleared those tasks, I can start on the rest.
It's a very difficult call. We, as writers think, and obviously there is some truth in this, that we need to tweet, promote and advertise to generate interest. However, and as other authors have shared with me, sometimes when you've had enough and can't tweet anymore or are sick of updating Facebook or whatever non-writing activity it is you're engaged in, you sell more! I know, it's warped, unfair, makes no sense, but it happens and has in fact happened to me today so far - fingers crossed it continues! So, I am going to take a very good author friend's advice and do less marketing for a bit and more writing (to be honest that wouldn't be difficult).
I think - and there IS no magic formula - that we have to identify the percentage of our time we wish to spend on our novels and split it up into writing (the major chunk), tweeting and other advertising, interviews, where appropriate and things like admin (following, unfollowing, sales figures, etc) and try as far as humanly possible to stick to those percentages.
I'm not going to discuss building platforms or Amazon algorithms, as much has already been written on this of late. Suffice to say, I am aware of these topics and you need to be too!
Anyway, that's my tuppence-worth for today. Am off to see what Anton and Gill are up to....
Sooz
Sign of the Times is available here for UK buyers - http://amzn.to/GKqZGd & for US/other (.com) - http://amzn.to/IYN0Fc
May 24, 2012
Lessons learned from a successful free promo
Dear all
Sorry it's taken a little longer to put together this post than I had wanted, but life got in the way. Life to be more precise consisted of the 3 long free promo days plus the hectic 3 days aftermath. I was lucky enough that Sign of the Times hit the number 1 spot. Now it's about keeping the momentum going.
Every day I learn about ten things I need to be doing to build my platform,but that will be the subject for another post. If you're read my mini-posts during & after the free promo, you will know that I was almost dead from exhaustion, after putting in 3 x 19 hour days to get it to the #1 spot. I could not have done it without Twitter. No other platform has the same community spirit of authors supporting other authors and followers happily retweeting their favourite writers' tweets and indeed acting upon them and buying a book, in this case mine.
From Fri to Sun, I had 6160 free downloads. Since then my paid sales have increased by 800% in 2 days. The level of exposure the free promo has given me, and reaching number #1 has catapulted me and my book into a realm I never thought possible. Now I am chasing for the Amazon top 100. I was at #208 this morning, but it's slipped back a little to #243. I am trying to reverse that again. I've been trying to work out when my readers are buying and I am actually staying up until midnight and 1am because they are still buying, rather than hit the sack at 10.30am as is my wont. But each day the trend is different!
I've been asked to do a few author interviews, which is nice. The more ways to get the novel recognised the better, plus they can be fun. I will post links to these when they are available.
I suppose the number one thing I can take from the free promo is BELIEVE. Believe in yourself, believe you can do it. I am very hard-working and I was determined that if it didn't hit the #1 spot, I would be able at least to look myself in the mirror and know that I had done everything humanly possible to get it there.
I also am humble enough to recognise that my efforts weren't perfect. I screwed up organising a particular marketing initiative, which would have dramaticaly increased my US downloads and potential immediate future sales. For the record, of those 6K+ downloads, more than 5K were in the UK. I have learned that lesson and will know next time. But I don't beat myself up about it. I have only been doing this two months and I have learned so much and I have hit the #1 Amazon spot! I think that's an achievement in itself, but I am aware that I need to be planning for the future now - dividing up my time into marketing, selling, admin, writing, editing and so forth.
And the free promo success has laid to rest two of my initial doubts - should I be giving my books away for free and should I be using Social Networking to promote my book ( I was very anti-SN sites a few months ago). Incontrovertibly yes, to both questions. Without Amazon KDP free promo, my little (or not so little at 370 pages) book would have gone unnoticed. There are several hundred thousand titles available from Amazon UK. Prior to the promo, I was around 35,000 and my best position had been 9,000 something. It speaks for itself.
One parting note - on Mon morning when the free promo finished and I was number #1, I breathed a sigh of relief and thought, great, I can go to bed now. How wrong was I? It took me about ten minutes to realise, this is just the beginning....
NB: If you missed the free promo - you can still get Sign of the Times here - http://amzn.to/GKqZGd (UK) & http://amzn.to/IYN0Fc (US & other)
Sorry it's taken a little longer to put together this post than I had wanted, but life got in the way. Life to be more precise consisted of the 3 long free promo days plus the hectic 3 days aftermath. I was lucky enough that Sign of the Times hit the number 1 spot. Now it's about keeping the momentum going.
Every day I learn about ten things I need to be doing to build my platform,but that will be the subject for another post. If you're read my mini-posts during & after the free promo, you will know that I was almost dead from exhaustion, after putting in 3 x 19 hour days to get it to the #1 spot. I could not have done it without Twitter. No other platform has the same community spirit of authors supporting other authors and followers happily retweeting their favourite writers' tweets and indeed acting upon them and buying a book, in this case mine.
From Fri to Sun, I had 6160 free downloads. Since then my paid sales have increased by 800% in 2 days. The level of exposure the free promo has given me, and reaching number #1 has catapulted me and my book into a realm I never thought possible. Now I am chasing for the Amazon top 100. I was at #208 this morning, but it's slipped back a little to #243. I am trying to reverse that again. I've been trying to work out when my readers are buying and I am actually staying up until midnight and 1am because they are still buying, rather than hit the sack at 10.30am as is my wont. But each day the trend is different!
I've been asked to do a few author interviews, which is nice. The more ways to get the novel recognised the better, plus they can be fun. I will post links to these when they are available.
I suppose the number one thing I can take from the free promo is BELIEVE. Believe in yourself, believe you can do it. I am very hard-working and I was determined that if it didn't hit the #1 spot, I would be able at least to look myself in the mirror and know that I had done everything humanly possible to get it there.
I also am humble enough to recognise that my efforts weren't perfect. I screwed up organising a particular marketing initiative, which would have dramaticaly increased my US downloads and potential immediate future sales. For the record, of those 6K+ downloads, more than 5K were in the UK. I have learned that lesson and will know next time. But I don't beat myself up about it. I have only been doing this two months and I have learned so much and I have hit the #1 Amazon spot! I think that's an achievement in itself, but I am aware that I need to be planning for the future now - dividing up my time into marketing, selling, admin, writing, editing and so forth.
And the free promo success has laid to rest two of my initial doubts - should I be giving my books away for free and should I be using Social Networking to promote my book ( I was very anti-SN sites a few months ago). Incontrovertibly yes, to both questions. Without Amazon KDP free promo, my little (or not so little at 370 pages) book would have gone unnoticed. There are several hundred thousand titles available from Amazon UK. Prior to the promo, I was around 35,000 and my best position had been 9,000 something. It speaks for itself.
One parting note - on Mon morning when the free promo finished and I was number #1, I breathed a sigh of relief and thought, great, I can go to bed now. How wrong was I? It took me about ten minutes to realise, this is just the beginning....
NB: If you missed the free promo - you can still get Sign of the Times here - http://amzn.to/GKqZGd (UK) & http://amzn.to/IYN0Fc (US & other)
May 20, 2012
Day Two of Free Promo - Sign of the Times
Well , I didn't quite last as long as 3am this time, quarter to two. Interestingly I see that the majority of downloads are in the UK, not the US, as I had anticipated. So, thanks everyone! When I limped off to bed, as my legs were numb from having a laptop on them for 17 hours straight, I was at number #7 in the free chart, so I've got to be happy with that. I am, however, not convinced that these Amazon charts do indeed change once an hour, as for 3 hours nowt happened & then I jumped suddenly from no. 10 to no. 7. It's easy to get obsessed by the numbers, especially when you are stuck at a laptop! Right, day 3 is underway - the final day - you can get Sign of the Times FREE until 0000 PST, so basically to us UK folks, until 8am Mon, if Amazon are playing ball. Then I can get back to writing (and editing) The Dating Game! ciao for now, Sooz
May 19, 2012
Results of First Day Of Free Promo - Sign of the Times
Well, after a gruelling 19 hours, I finally hit the sack at 3am (GMT). What a wonderful response I had received from readers/downloaders and Twitter community alike. I finished at #30 and fully expected to go down the chart when asleep, but my faithful Twitter RTers must have kept things going during my slumber, as I ended up at #20 by the time I awoke 5 hours later.
TWO MORE DAYS to get Sign of the Times on FREE download and remember, if you don't have a Kindle, there are Kindle apps for PC, Android, Blackberry and IPAD.- http://amzn.to/bEgLcE
have a great weekend - here are the links for your free ebook download
http://amzn.to/GKqZGd (UK) & http://amzn.to/IYN0Fc (US & other)
Sooz
TWO MORE DAYS to get Sign of the Times on FREE download and remember, if you don't have a Kindle, there are Kindle apps for PC, Android, Blackberry and IPAD.- http://amzn.to/bEgLcE
have a great weekend - here are the links for your free ebook download
http://amzn.to/GKqZGd (UK) & http://amzn.to/IYN0Fc (US & other)
Sooz
May 18, 2012
FREE PROMO WEEKEND - SIGN OF THE TIMES 18-20 MAY
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 BLAST OFF! Sign of the Times is now FREE all weekend- http://amzn.to/GKqZGd (UK) & http://amzn.to/IYN0Fc (US & other) Sooz
May 16, 2012
Yet another 4 star review - from Amazon reader
Well, when I published that last link, it was one I'd forgotten to post yesterday - imagine my surprise then on opening it to discover yet another 4 star review on top of yesterday's 4 star review. Nice way to start my Thursday, - http://amzn.to/IXvjR7
Book-shelf Review
Book-shelf 's 4 star review for Sign of the Times - http://amzn.to/IXvjR7
Taking Criticism
Hello all. It feels like ages since we last spoke. I have been busy re-drafting the first few chapters of The Dating Game. I haven't actually written anything new for 8 days...but I have not been idle. I have been working on a marketing campaign for Sign of the Times (which incidentally will be FREE on Amazon this weekend - Fri through Sun).
So, my editor, Drill Sergeant Fi Broon sent me her comments on my first few chapters. Oh, how I love that sea of red. It reminds me of being back at school. Unfortunately when I do well, she doesn't give me gold stars, or even silver ones, like my primary teachers did!
Chapter 1, she started off tentatively just pointing out sections which weren't 100% clear to her as a reader (they were clear to me in my head..). By chapter 2, by her own admission, she had become if not downright vicious, certainly she wasn't holding back any. Imagine a cross of a Drill Sergeant with a snarling Rottweiler and you're close!
So, how do I cope with criticism? Well, I am fortunate enough that Fi and I have been friends a long time, and also if you were to look on Wikipedia at the definition of pachyderm, it says alongside elephant and rhinoceros, Susan Buchanan... To be fair, if I spend any more time at this laptop, I will be the size of the former two also!
Many people ask me (other indie writers usually), how I can bear for my work to be revised/criticised so stringently by someone else. My answer is because I know that by having an independent set of eyes look it over, it becomes a much stronger piece of work. I probably take about 50%, maybe slightly more of Fi's suggestions. We call the WIP, The Rainbow, because of the sheer variety of colours we have all the different types of modifications in - deletions, additions, comments, unsure whether to change etc.
What is particularly good is when Fi points out, 'that section adds nothing', or 'Sooz, that is total waffle'. Most of the time I agree. Maybe I was going off on a tangent, or as she told me yesterday, 'that section can be used, but here's not the place for it' and she was right. We have a fun ping pong battle back and forth, where I tell her I'm not changing this piece, just because and that's it, no further explanation required. But occasionally, if she feels really strongly that what I am leaving in is detrimental, she will try another tack to get me to remove it!! I am generally good at taking criticism, but I know others are not and it can be a very emotional experience to have others review your work. There's a difference between someone doing a hatchet job and someone trying to give you constructive criticism - recognising the difference can be key. Try to remember it's nothing personal - generally people want to help. It can be hard to take a step back, but keep telling yourself it's for the good of your novel. You don't have to implement the changes suggested, but it certainly pays to keep an open mind.
Right, I need to prepare for my promo this weekend. More next week. Have a good one, Sooz
PS here are the links for Sign of the Times - http://amzn.to/GKqZGd (UK) - http://amzn.to/IYN0Fc (US)
If you download after 00.00 PST on Fri 18th (so 8am Fri GMT & 3am EST), you will get it for free. Enjoy and feel free to leave a review, Sooz
So, my editor, Drill Sergeant Fi Broon sent me her comments on my first few chapters. Oh, how I love that sea of red. It reminds me of being back at school. Unfortunately when I do well, she doesn't give me gold stars, or even silver ones, like my primary teachers did!
Chapter 1, she started off tentatively just pointing out sections which weren't 100% clear to her as a reader (they were clear to me in my head..). By chapter 2, by her own admission, she had become if not downright vicious, certainly she wasn't holding back any. Imagine a cross of a Drill Sergeant with a snarling Rottweiler and you're close!
So, how do I cope with criticism? Well, I am fortunate enough that Fi and I have been friends a long time, and also if you were to look on Wikipedia at the definition of pachyderm, it says alongside elephant and rhinoceros, Susan Buchanan... To be fair, if I spend any more time at this laptop, I will be the size of the former two also!
Many people ask me (other indie writers usually), how I can bear for my work to be revised/criticised so stringently by someone else. My answer is because I know that by having an independent set of eyes look it over, it becomes a much stronger piece of work. I probably take about 50%, maybe slightly more of Fi's suggestions. We call the WIP, The Rainbow, because of the sheer variety of colours we have all the different types of modifications in - deletions, additions, comments, unsure whether to change etc.
What is particularly good is when Fi points out, 'that section adds nothing', or 'Sooz, that is total waffle'. Most of the time I agree. Maybe I was going off on a tangent, or as she told me yesterday, 'that section can be used, but here's not the place for it' and she was right. We have a fun ping pong battle back and forth, where I tell her I'm not changing this piece, just because and that's it, no further explanation required. But occasionally, if she feels really strongly that what I am leaving in is detrimental, she will try another tack to get me to remove it!! I am generally good at taking criticism, but I know others are not and it can be a very emotional experience to have others review your work. There's a difference between someone doing a hatchet job and someone trying to give you constructive criticism - recognising the difference can be key. Try to remember it's nothing personal - generally people want to help. It can be hard to take a step back, but keep telling yourself it's for the good of your novel. You don't have to implement the changes suggested, but it certainly pays to keep an open mind.
Right, I need to prepare for my promo this weekend. More next week. Have a good one, Sooz
PS here are the links for Sign of the Times - http://amzn.to/GKqZGd (UK) - http://amzn.to/IYN0Fc (US)
If you download after 00.00 PST on Fri 18th (so 8am Fri GMT & 3am EST), you will get it for free. Enjoy and feel free to leave a review, Sooz
