Neil D. Ostroff's Blog, page 8

HAPPY!

So happy that Ereader News Today is featuring DROP OUT as a bargain book today. The book has affected and continues to affect readers from all over the world. Please click the link below and check it out. It just may change your life.

http://ereadernewstoday.com/more-barg...

Read what Kindle Nation Daily called "the sleeper hit of the year" what Kindle Fire Department called, "riveting, touching, and deeply heartwarming, a book that will stay with you forever"; an Indie Book of the Day winner and Amazon bestseller.
www.amazon.com/dp/B005FX0K7U

Good things come…

Nobody said it was going to be easy making a living as a writer. Nobody said it was always going to be fun. Nobody promised me that after spending twenty-plus years holed up in my office writing novels that anyone would ever read them. Nobody promised me anything would ever come of my writing, and yet I still do it.


Day after day, year after year, I sit in front of this keyboard and tap out characters and worlds. I’ve been to other planets, experienced other dimensions, felt unimaginable loss, murdered strangers, loved promiscuously, hated enemies; I’ve done just about everything I’ve always wanted to do without ever leaving this room. And yet, nobody ever promised me that anything would ever come of this hobby.


Did I ever think of giving up? If you’re a real writer than the answer is of course, most certainly not! It’s not even possible to stop. Telling a writer to give up the craft is like telling a person with the most cataclysmic bout of diarrhea to stop pooping (thank you Stephen King for that analogy). There is no giving up and there is no stopping an artist with the drive to create.


If the digital revolution had never happened and I never had made a dime off my books would I still be spending hour after hour day after day in front of my keyboard? Writing is a habit I can’t stop and I don’t know any other way to live my life. For more than two decades I have not given up and have not stopped writing and as a result in the last two years I’ve sold thousands of copies in five countries. Sample and free promo copies have been downloaded more than 45,000 times.


And the topper… my book DROP OUT is going to be featured as a bargain book on Ereader News Today, tomorrow June 10th! It is on sale right now for just $0.99! Grab a copy today! It will affect you. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005FX0K7U

Funny thing is, none of this would have ever happen if I had just taken the easy route and given up. Never! Nobody ever promised me this would be easy.


To read more about myself and my books please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING

http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com

Reviews for sale!

I’ve touched on this subject many times but it warrants repeating. Never pay someone to read and review one of your books. Paid reviewers give glowing reports on the books they read even if the books are terrible. Why? Because they want your repeat business. Would you pay someone a second time if they gave your book a bad review the first time? Of course not!


Fake reviews are one of the main reasons why indie books have been getting a bad rap. For sometimes enormous fees an author can get several good reviews based solely on what the author paid for the review and not the content of the book. The reader buys the book because so many other “readers” said it’s great and then is horribly disappointed by the content inside.


If you want real reviews then ask someone you don’t know who read your book. How do you do this? Enclose this handy paragraph after the end of your novel and see if it works. It did for Jackie Weger, bestselling indie romance author:

Thank you for taking time to read “Title of book”. If you enjoyed it, please consider telling your friends or posting a short review. Word of mouth is an author’s best friend and much appreciated.

http://authors.choosybookworm.com/boo...


I truly believe a good, honest review is a large part of garnering initial interest in the book and making it successful. Real reviews have passion for the story that comes across in the way the review was written.


Most of my ten published novels have reviews from readers. These reviews come from all over the world, from real readers, real people, and without a price tag attached.


To read more about me and my books please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com

Writing withdrawal

Writing withdrawal

I recently completed and published my tenth book. It took nearly fourteen months working at my computer from three to five hours a day. Seeing the book for sale worldwide is both exhilarating and relieving. I had planned to finish it while on my recent vacation but since I completed it a month ahead of schedule I found myself on vacation with nothing to write.

This has never happened before. I’ve always had a project that I could tweak while sitting on a dock or with my feet in the ocean. I told myself that I would not start a fresh new novel while on vacation because my first drafts tend to consume me for weeks and I wanted to spend time relaxing and enjoying the tropics.

Strange feelings started to happen. I suddenly found myself with an extraordinary amount of free time, like an alcoholic who quits consuming and realizes there are many more lucid hours to the day than ever imagined; time that I would have spent writing. I found myself feeling anxious and bored, as if my mind needed my imagination to stimulate it. It didn’t feel normal when I sat on the dock or dipped my feet in the ocean. There was something missing. I’d go to sleep feeling like I hadn’t really accomplished anything that day.

After spending decades writing feverishly I discovered that not writing was actually psychologically painful; withdrawal from a narcotic unreality. While I thought that not writing would have freed me up to enjoy more of the real world I found just the opposite. I enjoyed doing these things because I could write while doing them. Writing for me is not a burden, or a chore, it is a necessity of my life.

Though I spend many hours marketing and promoting my material (you can check out all my advice, experience, and tips on this subject on my blog) to sell books and get noticed, I realized on this recent vacation that none that recognition really means anything in the end. Whether people read my books or not, I cannot not write. It’s a part of me.

To learn more about my books and myself, please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING.

http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com

More marketing advice

I recently published my tenth ebook in the last three years. I didn’t write all of these books in that time frame, some are decades in the making, but all have been meticulously proofread and edited. In my quest to sell books I’ve made every mistake a new author can and spent thousands on promotions that didn’t work.

As my latest book begins the process of getting noticed and reviewed, there are still a few new surprises I’ve learned while marketing this one. I’ll begin with the obvious. Join a writer’s group. I’ve recently joined Enovel Authors at Work. Their promote each other philosophy has really increased my sales and exposure. Go ahead and check out the requirements for membership.

http://enovelauthorsatwork.com/neil-d...

Another new marketing surprise I tried was with Facebook post boosts. If you don’t know what they are, here’s the lowdown. You target a specific group of people to see your post and pay Facebook for the amount of people you want to see it. I spent fifty bucks on two posts and reached a combined 45,000 Facebook users. I saw absolutely no change in sales and in less than a day it was all over but the dust of nothingness.

Save your money and use it for editing and a great cover and blurb. With the internet, millions of people can see your ad or post, but that is only one item out of the thousands they will see in an hour’s time. If the blurb and cover catch them, you’ve got yourself a new reader.

To learn more about my books and myself, please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING.

http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com

Getting sales

When it comes to marketing and promoting your book nothing beats grassroots marketing and word-of-mouth promotion. That said, I’ve joined an exciting new online writers group devoted to paying it forward through various methods of promotion, including tweets, Facebook, and word-of-mouth promotion.

Getting noticed above the massive flood of new books is hard, but the task becomes easier when authors help each other. That’s what this group is all about. Please take a moment to check out my personal page and the site in general. And if you’re a writer, check out the requirements to join.

http://enovelauthorsatwork.com/neil-d...

Thanks everyone and have a great day.

Is marketing worth it?

I’ve been reading a lot of threads and forums lately dealing with the topic of marketing your book. It seems there are a lot of “newbies” out there in this relatively virgin explosion of indie publishing and many can’t understand why their books aren’t selling. When asked if these new authors market and promote their books most say yes, but complain that they have limited time for the endeavor, maybe a few hours a week.


These authors wonder why they have little or no sales. Well, here’s a hard truth. To be a successful indie author you have to market your books as much if not more than you spend time writing them. It takes a lot of work to get noticed in a publishing sea that now includes a million new published books yearly. Competition to get readers’ attention is ten times harder than it was three years ago. But it is not impossible.


With the internet, the exhaustive task of promoting is now accessible to even the most introverted writer. No longer must writers sit in nearly empty bookstores peddling their signed wares or go out on long book tours just to get a little recognition, that recognition can now be achieved at home. It can be done. You can get noticed. But it ain’t easy.


Internet marketing does sell books. I’m living proof. A complete unknown three years ago, since then I’ve sold thousands of books to absolute strangers. I also spend an average of two hours a day marketing. It’s tough to find the time, believe me, but I do it. I used to pay for sponsorships with mediocre results and placed samples of my books on all those hundreds of author sites that promise tons of exposure. They worked to some degree, but not worth the hours of drudgery downloading in comparison to sales. I earned roughly eighty cents an hour in sales royalties for my efforts. And paid Facebook and social media boosts do virtually nothing. Blindly spamming and pushing your book over and over only turns readers off. You seem desperate for anyone to buy your book. Then I discovered the secret to gaining an audience.


The proper way to promote is to build a readership through online book discussions and joining groups. Respond when a reader emails you. Get involved in discussions other than about your own work. Get people interested in you by being interesting online. Word-of-mouth will cause your audience to grow in time. It will! Marketing on the internet will sell your book, but you have to do it properly and have patience. If you tell a great story readers will find out about you. And they will tell their friends.



To read more about me, my books, and my latest release, please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING

http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com

Is marketing worth it?

I’ve been reading a lot of threads and forums lately dealing with the topic of marketing your book. It seems there are a lot of “newbies” out there in this relatively virgin explosion of indie publishing and many can’t understand why their books aren’t selling. When asked if these new authors market and promote their books most say yes, but complain that they have limited time for the endeavor, maybe a few hours a week.


These authors wonder why they have little or no sales. Well, here’s a hard truth. To be a successful indie author you have to market your books as much if not more than you spend time writing them. It takes a lot of work to get noticed in a publishing sea that now includes a million new published books yearly. Competition to get readers’ attention is ten times harder than it was three years ago. But it is not impossible.


With the internet, the exhaustive task of promoting is now accessible to even the most introverted writer. No longer must writers sit in nearly empty bookstores peddling their signed wares or go out on long book tours just to get a little recognition, that recognition can now be achieved at home. It can be done. You can get noticed. But it ain’t easy.


Internet marketing does sell books. I’m living proof. A complete unknown three years ago, since then I’ve sold thousands of books to absolute strangers. I also spend an average of two hours a day marketing. It’s tough to find the time, believe me, but I do it. I used to pay for sponsorships with mediocre results and placed samples of my books on all those hundreds of author sites that promise tons of exposure. They worked to some degree, but not worth the hours of drudgery downloading in comparison to sales. I earned roughly eighty cents an hour in sales royalties for my efforts. And paid Facebook and social media boosts do virtually nothing. Blindly spamming and pushing your book over and over only turns readers off. You seem desperate for anyone to buy your book. Then I discovered the secret to gaining an audience.


The proper way to promote is to build a readership through online book discussions and joining groups. Respond when a reader emails you. Get involved in discussions other than about your own work. Get people interested in you by being interesting online. Word-of-mouth will cause your audience to grow in time. It will! Marketing on the internet will sell your book, but you have to do it properly and have patience. If you tell a great story readers will find out about you. And they will tell their friends.



To read more about me, my books, and my latest release, please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING

http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com

Can you accept your end time?

Can you accept your end time?

In the near future there is a device that can show you how and when you will die.
Bob Bradly is devastated when he learns that Jane, the love of his life, has only two days to live, but he’s even more mortified when he finds out how she dies. Driven to desperate acts to save her, Bob challenges the forces determined to take Jane away.
With everything at stake, Bob and Jane travel a treacherous road in an effort to escape fate and forge a new life, while evading violent human-animal hybrids, a ruthless and corrupt government, and several species of poisonous, free moving foliage. He will not give up on her, not while they still can fight.
Faced with an even greater challenge when an alien super race returns to conquer what’s left of decimated Earth, Bob finds himself divided between saving Jane and preventing a second apocalypse. But he doesn’t realize his most dangerous battle has just begun as the human-hybrids have a secret attack plan of their own.

Please check out THE END TIME, my latest sci-fi adventure that will blow your mind.
Thank you.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00K08TEYA

Birthing

Well, after nearly exactly 15 months my latest book, THE END TIME is about to be birthed. The cover is complete, the blurb and pitch are complete, and I just sent all my material to Chris O'Byrne at Jetlaunch. Chris is the man who formats my manuscript for ever ereader imaginable and places the book on all the sell sites for me. Like my cover artist, Judy Bullard, I've used these same two people for all my ten published books. This gives my titles and format and consistent look. I advise all indie writers to try and do the same.

Look for THE END TIME very soon. I will be launching a huge promotional campaign once it's out.
To learn more about my other books and myself, please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING.

http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com