Neil D. Ostroff's Blog, page 26

I’m not famous!

Funny thing happened yesterday while I was working at my conventional job. A young, attractive girl happened to stumble upon my books on the internet and came up to talk to me about them. She said how much she respected someone who could do what writers are born to do and she wished she could author a book. (What I didn’t tell her about was the years of isolation and sacrifices made). Anyway, she then said something to me that struck as both humorous and poignant. She said, and I quote “Wow, you’ve written nine books! You’re going to be famous!” I replied with a little laugh “Maybe I’ll get rich, but writers don’t really get famous.” That thought stuck in my head for the rest of the night and obviously into today. Unlike musicians and actors, writers aren’t usually in the lime light. We don’t ache for public attention (at least I don’t), and generally prefer being alone. Even if I sell a million books I don’t expect to walk into a restaurant, be recognized, and be given a special table. Or go shopping and have a crowd of admirers follow me around the store snapping photos. Writers write because they have to. They tell stories because it’s an urge that must be fulfilled. Whether getting famous or not. Rich or not. Real writers must put pen to paper (or in my case, fingers to keyboard) every day or they feel somehow disconnected from the world. Some would call it lunacy. Others, mad genius. And still others would say I waste a huge amount of time tapping away. Whatever it is that drives writers cannot be understood by those who don’t. So if you see me out and about you don’t need to come running for an autograph or pull out your phone for a picture. You can just step up and say hi, because I’m nobody famous; just a writer.
As promised, here is another example of a query that got a lot of publisher and agent requests. I’ve omitted the last paragraph of credentials since I’ve listed them in prior posts.

DREAM TRAVELER
In the far reaches of the galaxy, thoughts can become reality. DREAM TRAVELER is a 30,000-word young adult fantasy adventure in which a fifteen-year-old girl journeys to the future and risks her soul to understand the politics of an alien civil war and stop the destruction of the universe.

After centuries of conflict, ageless spirits called Phelastians, who live on a magnificent floating city, are finally making peace with Dwellers, ape creatures who live on a decimated planet Earth. Ancient formalities require that a human be present as a witness to the treaty. A Phelastian travels through the interstellar continuum back in time and recruits Jamie Richards, a geeky, everyday teenager.

Core, a Dweller overlord, is pro war and sabotages the link connecting Jamie to her world. Jamie vanishes from the signing, crumbling the negotiations, and sending her on a series of fantastic, alternate-reality adventures that shatter the boundaries of possibility. Stumbling into shifting prisms of both worlds, she visits war-ravaged landscapes, returns to an Earth ruled by mechanical aliens, and even meets herself as a frail, old woman. Through it all, Jamie pieces together the disjointed fragments of space and time and discovers a stable vortex. She returns to the moment of signing and stabilizes the link seconds before creation explodes with parallel dimensions.

DREAM TRAVELER is the second in a completed three book sci-fi/fantasy series. Readers can expect a mind-bending adventure punctuated by bizarre plot twists. Jamie faces and overcomes unimaginable obstacles. She is a strong, smart, female hero. The story will delight children, teens, and adults alike.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006F2AGUQ
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B006F2AGUQ

ALWAYS WRITING
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com

Marketing plus

In my endless quest to market and promote myself so I can sell millions of books and spend my days fishing in the Florida Keys, I’ve discovered yet a few more sites and tips that are free and can do wonders for promotion. The latest cool marketing bit is on the Kindle Forums, ie. Kindle chat. This forum has thousand of members and there are hundreds of topics to comment on. But do not self-promote! So, why is this so cool? Because, Kindle forums allows you to place cover widgets of your books at the bottom of everything you comment on. So you can engage in lots of talk while also showing off your titles. You do this by going into your profile and at the bottom it has a button for the code to link your books. This is like showing off your covers to thousands without overtly self-promoting. Some other great sites for strictly posting your work are: writing.com, published.com, book daily.com, scribd.com, and Booksie.com. There are hundreds of others of course, but these are easy to sign up and easy to navigate.
In other news, SILENT INVASION has sold a few copies and I’m gearing up for a big promo blitz. My other books are beginning to sell okay and between the five exclusively for sale on Kindle, I’m selling about three to five a day. The next month should be exciting because all my promotion gigs start, including my Kindle Nation spot. That one took three months to get and I got it before they raised their rates. I just checked, and most of their spots are filled three to four months out. If you have a book to advertise, I’d book space now.
Also, something I’ve wanted to get off my chest. In the last year I’ve published five books on Kindle, set up accounts on more than 35 writers sites and have marketed and promoted my books for hours daily, yet I still feel it’s not happening fast enough. I feel like somehow if I don’t hit it big soon that technology will make authors obsolete. Or at least, the ability for authors to make a living at writing. I feel like it’s only a matter of time before books are pirated on the internet as easily as music. I feel like an aging dinosaur in an increasingly modern world. I only hope this way of life for all of us writers doesn’t disappear.
Please check out SILENT INVASION and please hit the tags and like button. Thanks.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006ZQTWPW
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B006ZQTWPW

blog: http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com

Silent Invasion

They are here! They are hidden among us! They will stop at nothing to destroy us!

That’s right! After much anticipation, SILENT INVASION is live and available for sale! If you’ve read DREAM TRAVELER or INSECTLAND, this is the book that started the series. I had release the sequels first, but now the full storyline will all come together. SILENT INVASION took fifteen years to finish. Not write, but finish. Here’s the history. The first draft was completed in September 1997 as a single, stand-alone novel. In November 1997 I got my first agent, Ann Luster of Luster Lit. She spent six months “shopping” the manuscript with no result. A few months after that, her phone got disconnected and I never heard from her again. Turns out, she was part of a huge author scam in the mid-nineties; anyone remember Edit Ink, and the six million dollar lawsuit against them? The only good thing is I never sent her any money, which is why I guess I was never even given a chance. Anyway, I rewrote SILENT INVASION, thinking the manuscript had flaws and decide to turn it into a series. I envisioned three books, each singularly a story, yet all three would have a grander meaning. I wanted these books to be wholly different from anything out there; wild, mind-bending novels for middle school through adult readers. In spring of 1998, I had started work on INSECTLAND, when I got offered representation again. This was a shady agency that did have a few legit sales. I had to pre-pay $300 for printing of manuscripts and materials or I could do it myself. I opted to do it myself (which probably put them off to me right away). It cost about $150 to get everything done and shipped to them. Again, many months went by without a word. Finally, I got a small plain envelope with a photocopied list of all the publishers they’d claimed to have sent it to and then a kind “wish we could do more and good luck with your life” note. By that time, I’d finished INSECTLAND and had completed a first draft of DREAM TRAVELER. I continued my quest for agents, but also started querying publishers. I wrote more novels, switching genres to noir thrillers and then back to sci-fi, on a yearly basis. On average, once a month I’d get a request for a read from either agent or publisher. Most all wrote me back detailing reasons why they didn’t take the book on and suggestions for change. I incorporated those changes and in June of 2006, I got a phone call that would change my life. Gary Heidt of Signature Lit in NY wanted to represent me. I went through the roof. This was a top agent, with huge sales, in a top NY agency. The high of that call lasted days. And in the months that followed, we had moments of sheer excitement as editors and publishers decide if they wanted to take the book on. We tweaked my other novels as an agent-author team and got so close to getting large advances that it hurt. Then, all of a sudden the publishing environment changed and competition for shelf space at the bookstore became overwhelming. Requests for my novels became less and less and then finally in August of 2009 Gary conceded that he couldn’t do anything else for me and we amicably parted ways. January 2010, I discovered Kindle publishing and my whole life changed. Still believing SILENT INVASION had a shot at the corporate publishing world I held off publishing it until now. If you’re interested in reading something completely original, fun, and adventurous, then I think you’ll like SILENT INVASION. Happy reading.
SILENT INVASION
Thirteen-year-old Tim Madison’s life turns upside down when a strange visitor takes him aboard a magnificent spaceship to train for a future alien invasion. Returned home with new skills and this terrible knowledge, he confides in his two best friends about his experience. Now, they’re in a race against time to prevent an all-out attack on Earth. Can they stop the ruthless, spider-like creatures from constructing a massive extermination army deep inside our planet? Or will we all perish?
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006ZQTWPW
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B006ZQTWPW

Blog: http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com

Free adventure!

Since my last giveaway was so successful I’ve decided to do it again with a different book. From now until Monday DREAM TRAVELER is absolutely free on Kindle!!

DREAM TRAVELER
Every time Jamie Richards falls asleep, she’s bounced through time and injected into possible futures. And all of these diverse futures lead to one horrifying conclusion; the end of everything. Can Jamie save trillions of lives, prevent a war that has already occurred, and stop herself from meeting her self, all while attempting to stabilize creation and find her way home?
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006F2AGUQ
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B006F2AGUQ

Check it out if you’re in the mood for a wild, mind-bending adventure. And while you’re at it, check out my other sci-fi fantasy books. As I’ve said before, I believe these free promotions are the best way to build new readership. I’ve already sold sixty books and the promo just started. This is a perfect time because my latest sci-fi adventure, SILENT INVASION went live yesterday. I’m not going to begin promoting it until Monday though, due to work and family obligations. However, SILENT INVASION along with my other books should be highlighted in the ‘books by this author’ on Amazon section if people download the free book, giving it some exposure. It’ll be interesting to see if any sales result because of this. I’ve already sold four copies of SILENT INVASION as it went live. I guess there are fans out there that get notified when I put out a new book. I didn’t realize. I’ll post the results of this promotion on Tuesday. Until then, I’m still plugging away at IMAGINATION. This is turning out to be my most fantastic, yet complex literary-fantasy novel I’ve ever attempted. Once again, here’s the tagline: What if everything you knew; you’re family, your friends, the community you live in; what if all of it was the figment of someone’s imagination? And what if that person were dying?
I anticipate an early summer release.
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com

Query that worked

Continuing to showcase queries that got agents and publishers interested in my work over the years, when there was a publishing industry willing to take on new writers (ha ha), here is the query that got the head of Random House Children’s Division (Jim Thomas) interested in AFTER. It was submitted by my agent at the time and was given a read in less than forty-eight hours. This is his exact reply.
“Thanks for the look at AFTER. There’s a lot I like about it. It’s quite inventive, with ideas I haven’t seen before. I was compelled to read through the entire manuscript. But I fear it may be too…gruesome? If not for the YA market then for my sensibilities. Still, I was glad to read it.”
That was October 9th 2008; a lifetime ago in the way books are sold today and what the industry has become. I don’t know if Mr. Thomas is still head of Random House but I do thank him for that feedback all those years ago and the encouragement (hey, I’ll take it in any form). I went on to rewrite the novel a little less “gruesome” than it was before. My former agent, Gary Heidt has gone on to open his own agency, Signature Lit. and is doing very well. We don’t keep in touch but we left on mutually good terms. He tried to sell my books for three and a half years (I have copies of the rejection slips to prove it), and I don’t blame him for moving on. Publishing and selling my work on my own is much more exciting and rewarding anyway, than sitting around waiting for numbers, and contracts, and dealing with executives. Here’s the query. Feel free to plagiarize any part. I won’t be using it.

Dear ?

On the day we’re born we’re all destined to die. But what lies after? For fifteen–year-old Nick Murray, death is only the beginning. His entire human life has been an illusion in preparation for the epic role his soul will play in the destiny of the universe.

Nick always believed he was an ordinary kid until an unusual cardiac arrest strikes him down. Leaving behind his mother and girlfriend, his soul enters the hereafter and finds it is nothing like the fire and brimstone he’d always imagined. Incoming entities are distributed to levels according to the good vs. evil they had done in their lives. There’s only one problem, Nick never had any real human experiences. Fostered to be a celestial super hero, he must prevent the devil from damning for eternity all who ever lived.

Because of your amazing track record at ? for selling books like ? which is similar to my style, I’m writing to query you about my completed 35,000 word middle grade paranormal novel, AFTER.

High-stakes action, outlandish settings, and featuring a cast of fearsome and angelic characters, mixed with a subtle love story, makes AFTER a novel that will appeal to tweens, teens and adults alike. Nick is a smart, captivating protagonist who must overcome insurmountable obstacles to succeed in the quest he’s been given. A quest that includes traveling through various realms of the ethereal, outwitting the sinister demons and gods who reside there, and becoming human again to end a war on Earth fought with futuristic weaponry.

My publishing history spans twenty years with credits in online and printed publications. Thanks for your time. I have enclosed a short sample of AFTER. I’d be delighted to send the entire manuscript.
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com

Exposure, yes!

Just another example of how the internet has changed authors and the exposure that their books are capable of receiving with a little marketing and promotion. Here is a review and blurb about me that appeared in Italy. I couldn’t even read it and had to have my step-daughter translate it for me. This was a totally unsolicited article and I thank the writer for it. Also, now that it’s over, the free book promo on Kindle is resulting in paid sales. Quite a few I might add. The way I understand it, if someone downloaded the promo then the book comes up as a recommendation to their friends as a book he’s read. It also brings up other books by that author, so my other books would appear on his page. It’s a bit confusing but seems to be working. I highly recommend doing this. My Facebook Fan page is also way up in likes and my blog is nearing 50,000 hits. I’ve composed another list of all the sites I belong to and market and promo my stuff on. I’m tweaking it down to the very best places and I will post it when it’s complete. By my estimation, every time I post a blog comment it reaches an audience of about 2,000 people, so I’m becoming more aware of what I post and try to keep the boring stuff about the writing life to myself. That said, SILENT INVASION is well under way as my next release. The cover is complete and I’ve been in contact with Chris, my ebook formatter. Most of you know the history behind this book from past posts so I won’t go into detail about it. I’m going to start booking ads and sponsor space now, so I’ll be ready to go when it’s released. This has potential to be a big one because it is the first in the series of three (two are already released). If I do this properly, I could attract an audience that will read all three. Now that I’ve narrowed what works and what doesn’t with marketing, this could take off as a monster. Also, I’m back working on IMAGINATION, which is turning into the wildest, mind-bending, head-spinning project I’ve ever worked on.
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com

I’m strange!

I used to think I was a really strange person. While everyone else was out socializing and going to concerts, movies, and having meals out, I would stay home and sit in my room and write stories. I thought I was even odder when I got older and went to college. While I did my fair share of partying, I never got into that whole social clique thing. While my friends would be outside playing football or Frisbee tag, I’d be in my dorm room cranking out poetry (that’s what I was into at the time) and short stories. Always dreaming that fame and fortune would come my way and make this obsession of mine seem tangible. I even got a reputation at school of a guy who wouldn’t answer his dorm room door even if I was there because I’d be writing and didn’t want to be disturbed. My friends never teased me though, for they saw my ambition and determination to make it as an author. Fast-forward almost twenty years of sitting alone in apartment after apartment, and then finally a home, constantly writing, ignoring request to meet with friends, go spend a day in the city, or even gather some buddies for a beer at a bar; spending 90% of my time alone and writing. Then Facebook came along and the era of the internet. Suddenly, I’m back in touch with all those people who were left wondering whatever happened to me. Suddenly, the whole world opened up to me and my books, and provided me a way to sell my work to a potential audience of billions. Suddenly, all my friends see the result of all those years of isolation and sacrifice. Now they read my books. Now they send me text, Facebook, and email messages saying how much they like my stuff. Now they read my blog and follow my career. Now, they don’t think I’m so strange anymore. And that has made it all worth it.
Okay, today…
Final sales for the promotion was 1,645, bringing the total number to of people who have read my books in the last year to about 6,500. That’s pretty amazing since this is really just the beginning of the possibilities of the future. And like I noted in previous posts, my big promotions in February and March should give me an estimated audience of about 10,000,000 potential readers. Very cool. Also, as promised, I’ve included the query letter I was going to use for SILENT INVASION until I decided not to go the NY route with this book. The query is a rough draft, but you can get an idea of what I was trying to say. I guess we’ll never know if it would have worked.
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com

QUERY FOR SILENT INVASION

They’re here. They’re hidden among us. They’ll stop at nothing to destroy us.

Because of your amazing track record at ? for selling middle grade books like ?, which is similar to my style, I’m writing to query you about my novel, SILENT INVASION. Thirteen-year-old Tim Madison is the only person who knows about and can stop ruthless creatures who are working deep inside our planet constructing a massive extermination army.

Tim’s life turns upside down when a strange visitor takes him aboard a magnificent spaceship to train for a future alien invasion. Returned home with new skills and this terrible knowledge, Tim confides in his two best friends about his experience. Now, they’re in a race against time to prevent an all-out attack on Earth.

Readers can expect deadly creatures, technical marvels, and in the end, something surprising to play a key role in winning the epic battle. SILENT INVASION is an action-packed 40,000-word stand alone book and the first in a completed series of three.

I have a large platform on which I promote and sell my existing indie books. This includes a daily blog that currently receives more than a 1,500 unique hits a day, over 1,900 twitter followers, and an author fan page with more than 5,900 ‘likes’. I heavily publicize myself on the World Wide Web and am actively involved in all major social networks. My publishing history spans twenty years. I’ve completed ten novels in the genres of middle-grade science fiction/fantasy, adult thriller, and literary. I recently parted ways with Signature Literary Agency, NYC, and I am seeking new representation for my many and varied projects. Please visit my blog or website to learn more about me. Thanks for your time. I’d be delighted to send the entire manuscript.

Success!!

With just hours remaining on my promotion here are the latest stats. Sales in the U.S are DROP OUT – 751 and INSECTLAND – 281. In the UK my sales are DROP OUT – 251 and INSECTLAND – 67. In Germany my sales are DROP OUT – 7 and INSECTLAND – 1. DROP OUT is close to breaking into the top 100 in sales and might in the next few hours. I’ve done a last minute promo blitz of the free books so maybe there may be a final surge. Not bad. If I can get ten or fifteen reviews out of this it will have been well worth it. It seems a little strange to me that DROP OUT was so overwhelmingly popular compared to INSECTLAND. I feel the cover of INSECTLAND is much more attention getting. I’m starting to think that maybe the majority of Kindle readers are still adults right now and that the kids are just starting to catch up and get interested in the device. If that’s the case, I may be pushing the wrong books and should spend more time promoting my adult thrillers and fiction. We’ll see what happens in the next three months with all my promotions coming to fruition. I had planned on converting all my books by next year anyway and deleting my relationship with iuniverse and paperbacks. Iuniverse charges way too much for a download and they keep like 90% of the royalties. That said, I’ve been in contact with my cover artist, Judy, and have sent her the description for my newest sci-fi, SILENT INVASION. It is a re-write of TIM MADISON GALACTIC WARRIOR that’s been updated and refined. The new story is much edgier and more grown-up than the original. The original is only selling a few copies a year anyway so I figured I’d give it new life. I have also decided not to market my books to literary agents anymore. I think that era of having representation may be finished for me and it would be a waste of my time and energy to pursue that route. However, I did write a query letter for SILENT INVASION which I’ll share in my next post. It’s an updated version of the query letter that got me my NY agent five years ago.

http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com

Keepin’ it real!

As my five dollar blog ads end I can reliably say that they resulted in maybe a dozen sales. Since I only get like thirty-five cents a book the result wasn’t worth the expense in monetary terms. But it’s all about exposure. This brings me to the next level of my experiments in marketing. After reading forums on the pros and cons of making your ebook free to the public, I decided to do just that. Kindle Direct offers a program where you can offer your book free for up to five days. I’m doing my two books, DROP OUT and INSECTLAND for three days starting this morning until Wednesday afternoon, so get your copy while you can. Now, you may ask why this approach? Well, there’s several obvious reasons. If people like the book they may buy another of mine. If they like the book they may write a nice review. If they like the book they may recommend it to their friends. Of course, I hope no one dislikes my books.
So, I checked my stats as of six hours running and I’ve already sold four hundred books! That’s right, four hundred books in six hours! If this continues I’ll probably have given away three thousand books or more by the end of the campaign. That’s HUGE exposure even if only a small percentage actually read the book. And since I have multiple books for sale I’m hoping to attract a few new fans. So far, this appears to be the most promising marketing gimmick to date. It’s going to be exciting seeing the counter go up and knowing so many people have my books in their hands. My other ongoing campaign, the Goodreads pay-per-click ads aren’t doing anything, so I may just set the level to the highest exposure rate and use up my balance. Another plus today, this blog is now over 30,000 hits and my Facebook fan page in up over 5,500 “likes”. http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Face...
I thank all who have helped me achieve these kinds of numbers.
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com

Impatient patience pays

Okay, I finally got the dates for my Kindle Nation blitz and it’s not for several weeks. They got me in the first spots available so you can see how coveted the campaign is. I have two campaigns going: a daily sponsorship that will feature my book on the front page and heavily throughout the site for one day, and a package called an ebook of the day sponsorship. The latter will blast my book to hundreds of thousands of Kindle readers for 30 hours. The daily deal sponsorship was $59.99 and the ebook of the day was $159.99. Pricey, I know. But if it hits it’ll all be worth it. So, that’s it. I’m all set for the coming two months with big campaigns. I decided to focus on just one book for the entire paid campaigns. That book being AFTER. I feel it is the best for new YA kindle owners. It has also been through some top publishers in NY (via my former agent) and gotten great feedback. It has since been rewritten with all the feedback in mind and I’ve gotten great reviews. Sales for AFTER have been improving slightly but nowhere in relation to the massive amount of traffic this blog and my site at Authors Den are now getting. My other books sales remain about the same. There are spikes when I sell a lot of different titles and long lulls where I only sell one or two. We’ll see what happens now that all my ducks are in a row. Here is my upcoming promotions schedule for the next two months. This is besides the daily two to three hours I put aside for commenting on forums and basic promotion on sites. Oh, and I also like to write novels when I have time. One other thing, my last post I gave a wrong web address. The blogging site is: http://bookblogs.ning.com/. Check it out it’s worth it. Here’s my schedule:

Featured author on Substance Books book publicist site…… Feb. 4th
Kindle Nation Daily daily sponsorship……..Feb. 16th
Interview on Celebrating Authors blog………Feb. 26th
--and the big one: Kindle Nation Daily ebook of the day sponsorship……March 22-23