Harper Bliss's Blog, page 26

Once in a Lifetime is on sale!

Once in a Lifetime has been called “Fifty Shades of Leigh”, “A gem that should become a classic” and (my personal favourite) “Love at First Fist”.

Mrs Bliss: Print is not dead, hurray!

Hi, remember me?

I started this blog a couple of months ago, full of ambition to keep it updated on a weekly basis. And now it’s been two months since the last post. Let’s attribute this delay to travelling, moving office, book launches, taking courses. Definitely not to fear of the blank page, or even less to laziness…

For the first post in this new attempt at regular blogging, I thought I would write about print books, and how they have become more important to us recently. You see, Ladylit reached a milestone in June. For the first time in our history we sold 100 print copies in a month. This may not seem like a lot, but to us it was a significant number.

We have always produced a print version of books above a certain length through Createspace, ever since we started publishing. Even though our focus is on (and our income comes from) ebooks, there is something quite magical about being able to hold in your hands a hard copy of a book you wrote or had a part in producing. Maybe it’s because we grew up with print books; it’s quite possible the younger generations who grew up in a mostly digital world will not have the same feeling. So, in the beginning the main purpose of producing the print version was just personal satisfaction. Holding the book in our hands made it somehow feel more real, I think.

We soon also started using the print version as a promotional tool, for giveaways or for gifts. After all, quite a bit of work goes into producing the files for the printer, both the cover and the interior. Especially at that time, when we still used the Createspace Word template file. Too much work just to stroke our egos…

We also realised that having the print version on the Amazon page next to the Kindle version, gave the book a more professional look, and made the Kindle version seem like a good deal, as Amazon helpfully shows how much money you save by purchasing the Kindle version.

We always sold a few copies each month, but never enough to get a monthly royalties cheque from Createspace (the payment threshold is US$100). As we put out more titles, the numbers increased slightly, but were still pretty insignificant. We also never put any marketing efforts towards selling more print books.

In the last few months however, since Harper started publishing regular full length novels, we have seen a considerable increase in the number of print books sold, especially newly published titles. Whereas before a new book would sell maybe 5 to 10 copies in its first month, the last two Harper Bliss novels we published each sold about 30 in the same period of time. As I write this, on July 6th Hong Kong time (but it’s still July 5th in the US), Harper’s most recent book The Road to You has already sold 6 copies this month, and we’ve sold 17 print books in total. (That’s more than 3 per day!)

This means that nowadays, instead of getting a $100 cheque every few months, we now get a few 100 dollars every month. It’s not enough to live off, but it’s a nice enough extra, especially since we still don’t do any promotion or marketing specifically for the print books.

We can’t really pinpoint what the increase in numbers is caused by. Of course, the print books benefit from our marketing work for the ebooks, since their visibility is improved by being linked to the Kindle version on Amazon. Harper’s reader base is increasing steadily and surely some of these new readers enjoy reading print books as well as or more than ebooks. We do know the extra sales do not come from bookshops, as they tend to not order books from Createspace. Additionally, at least one of the more successful titles is not even available to them to buy, as we are in the process of distributing through another company that does sell to indie bookshops more easily (hopefully more on that once the book is available.)

In any case, these increased sales are starting to make me wonder if we should maybe look into promoting our print books more. And they are a confirmation that print is definitely not dead. It takes a bit more work than an ebook to put it out there, but it is definitely worth the effort.

Preview ‘No Strings Attached’

My new novel No Strings Attached will be out in 2 weeks. Here’s a preview. Enjoy!

No Strings Attached

© Harper Bliss

CHAPTER ONE

“To one year of freedom.” Amber held up her cup of green tea.

Micky stared into her latte and shook her head. “Let’s not toast to that.” She looked up and found Amber’s eyes. “Freedom’s overrated.”

Amber cocked her head. “What’s wrong with you today? This is not the effect my yoga class is supposed to have.” She kept holding up her mug.

Micky averted her glance. Amber was always beaming with positive energy and obvious physical and mental health. Some days, it was just too much. “I’m not saying I’m not happy that my divorce became official exactly one year ago, but I don’t have that much to show for it. This yoga session is the highlight of my week. My children don’t need me anymore, which they keep reminding me of at every turn. I had foolishly believed my life would become better after leaving Darren, but it doesn’t feel that way.”

“You’re still finding your feet. And Olivia and Christopher do still need their mother very much. They’re still getting used to the situation as well. Think long-term, Micky.”

“Well, I definitely don’t want to get back with Darren, I just… feel so empty, so meaningless. My days are filled with literally doing nothing.”

“They’re filled with the exact same activities as before the divorce. It’s just your perspective that’s different,” Amber said.

Amber was a good friend to have, but her spiritual mumbo jumbo did irritate Micky at times like these. Micky could also do with a glass of New Zealand sauvignon blanc much more than this latte.

Micky shrugged as Kristin, The Pink Bean’s owner, headed in their direction.

“Hello, ladies,” she said. “I hope you had a good class.”

Micky let Amber reply to that question. Amber explained how she’d had her students stay in pigeon pose for longer than usual and asked Kristin when she was going to join again.

“As soon as I find a new employee.” She thrust a sheet of paper in Micky’s direction. “Are your children old enough to have an after-school job?”

“My children?” Micky bristled. “Actually work for pocket money?” She feigned an exaggerated laugh, then clasped a hand to her chest. “It’s my own fault. I spoiled them too much.”

“How about you, Micky?” Amber’s voice rose.

“Me what?” Micky stared at the text on the piece of paper. Barista wanted. Being upbeat is much more important than being experienced.

“You’re looking for something to do with your time. Why don’t you apply?” Amber looked at Kristin, possibly for words of encouragement, but Kristin had a business to run so why would she hire a washed-up divorcée like Micky? And why would Micky take a job in the first place?

“It could be fun,” Kristin weighed in. “You come in here every day, anyway. I’ll show you the ropes.”

“Me?” Micky leaned back. “Work at The Pink Bean?” The idea sounded ludicrous to her. “I don’t know the first thing about making complicated cups of coffee like this.”

“You’re an expert at drinking them, though,” Amber offered.

“Think about it.” Kristin shot Micky an encouraging smile, then walked off and pinned the sheet of paper on the notice board by the door.

“Why did you say that in front of her?” Micky gave Amber a wry look.

“You know me, Michaela, I’m always only trying to help.”

It was infuriating, but true. “Can you imagine me serving coffee at The Pink Bean?”

“Why not? You were just telling me about how empty you feel inside. You basically said you’re bored. Working here for a few hours a day can change that. You’d meet new people. You wouldn’t be alone. And you can take my evening classes. They’re a bit fuller, but I’ll still pay special attention to you.” Amber drew her lips into that wide smile of hers. A ginger curl had escaped from her ponytail and danced along her temple as she nodded.

“But”—and Micky was embarrassed to admit this—“I haven’t worked a day in my whole life.”

“What are you talking about?” Amber’s voice rose again. For a yoga teacher, she really had problems keeping her voice level in social situations. “You raised two children. You made a home for them and for your ex-husband. It’s not because you don’t get paid for it that it isn’t a job—and a tough one at that.”

“If you put it that way.” Was Micky actually starting to consider this crazy idea? What did she really have to lose apart from a few hours of her time, which she didn’t do anything useful with, anyway. “But I’ve certainly never had a boss before.”

“You live with two teenagers. No boss can be worse than that. Besides, Kristin is a pussycat.” Amber let her gaze slide to the counter where Kristin was chatting to a customer. “Remember that time I hit on her because she was always alone in here and I read it all wrong and I assumed she was single?”

Micky nodded. “How could I forget when you remind me every few months?”

“She let me down so gently. It was the easiest rejection I ever experienced. She even offered me a free cup of tea, which I didn’t accept, of course.”

Micky had heard the story of Amber’s failed crush on Kristin many a time since The Pink Bean had opened two years ago. Since then, they’d met Kristin’s wife Sheryl, a professor at the University of Sydney, and Amber had successfully gotten over her crush.

“What will my kids think of their mother working at a coffee shop called The Pink Bean?” No matter what she did, Micky’s hormonal teenagers would disapprove noisily for an instant, then retreat back into the silence they wrapped themselves in with their oversized headphones on their heads and their blinking screens in front of their eyes.

“They won’t mind, and it doesn’t matter.” Amber fixed her gaze on Micky’s, as though wanting to say something with her intense stare.

“What?” Micky asked.

“You’ve let it slip that you might be open to… exploring more. This is a great place to start.”

Micky’s eyes grew wide. “What on earth—”

“Don’t play innocent with me now. I’m your best friend. Have been for a very long time. I’ve seen your gaze wander. Besides, you’ve told me in no uncertain terms.”

Micky felt herself flush. This didn’t stop Amber from pushing further.

“On a day like today especially, on the first anniversary of your divorce, I think you should take action. Not just symbolic action. Real action. Make a change. Take a step forward.”

At least Amber was letting go of the innuendo. “I’ll sleep on it, I promise.”

Amber nodded, then slanted her torso over the small table. “I know it wasn’t the actual reason for the divorce, because there’s never only one reason, but I know you’re curious. It’s time to put yourself out there.”

Only Amber could say something like that and have the most endearing, non-smug look on her face as she leaned back.

“When will you put yourself out there again?” Micky countered.

“I have,” Amber was quick to say, then scrunched her lips together. “You know I have, I just haven’t met the right woman yet.”

“Maybe you’re frequenting the wrong places and hanging out with the wrong kind of people.” Micky was still a little unsettled by what Amber had just implied.

“You mean The Pink Bean and you?” Amber narrowed her eyes. “Never.”

Micky looked around the cozy coffeehouse just round the corner from her new home—from her new life. She’d been living in the Darlinghurst area for only a few months, and had chosen this quickly gentrifying neighborhood at Amber’s insistence. Amber claimed Micky couldn’t hide herself away in the suburbs of Mosman anymore, not even if it meant that Olivia and Christopher would have much smaller bedrooms to sulk in.

Kristin gave her a quick wave from behind the counter. Micky tried to imagine herself behind it.

Should she take the leap?

CHAPTER TWO

When she’d gone hunting for a new pad, Micky had fallen in love with the second house the real estate agent had shown her. Her children, not so much. The biggest trade-off when they had swapped Mosman for Darlinghurst had, in the end, not been the size of the bedrooms but the fact the new house only had one bathroom they all had to share. On school days, Micky had no problem letting Olivia and Christopher take their showers first, the latter never spending more than five minutes in there anyway, while she made them breakfast and attempted—mostly in vain—to get them to eat it.

“I’ll have an apple on the bus” was Olivia’s standard reply, while Christopher would eat one forkful of the scrambled eggs she’d made, mumbling, “Mmm, good, Mom,” just to placate her, after which he probably wolfed down a Snickers bar. Micky found the wrappers everywhere.

Today, though, Micky needed to be at The Pink Bean at seven thirty—“Just to observe on your first morning shift,” Kristin had assured her—and she was impatiently waiting for Olivia to exit the bathroom. This reinforced the thought that this whole thing was an awful idea in the first place. She was forty-four years old. She’d been married to Darren Steele for a whopping eighteen of those—she’d given him her prime. What was she doing starting work at a coffee shop where, at least once a week, an LGBT activity took place?

Micky remembered the double-take she had done when Amber had first brought her there just after it opened.

“Must it really be so blatantly obvious?” she had asked, not caring how that made her come across. Her marriage had been in the final stage of its existence and what if someone she knew ran into her at a coffeehouse called The Pink Bean. Why couldn’t it just be called The Bean? And now she was going to work there—or at least attempt to. What did that say about her?

Her kids, who had become regulars at The Pink Bean as well, often going in after school for a muffin or an iced tea, didn’t seem to be disturbed by the Pink aspect of The Bean when she told them about her plans. They’d mostly scoffed and said, “You, Mom? Serve people coffee? Why?”

Micky had explained that she needed something to do with her time, now that they obviously didn’t need her that much anymore.

“But why do that?” Olivia had asked. “Can’t you volunteer at a soup kitchen or something, like other moms?”

Micky had postponed and postponed her decision to leave Darren. She’d wanted to stay until both her children were at university, but Olivia was only twelve at the time and the six years it would take for her to graduate high school seemed like a lifetime.

Micky had not been able to provide Olivia with a coherent answer to her question. Not even she knew why she wanted to work at The Pink Bean—she didn’t even know if she wanted to work there. It was just a leap, like Amber had said. Trying something new.

Christopher, who was a sweet boy at heart, but suffered deeply from the mood swings that come with puberty, hadn’t been very talkative and had just grumbled something Micky didn’t understand.

Micky knocked on the bathroom door. “Hurry up, Liv,” she shouted, while nerves coursed through her body.

The bathroom door flew open, and Olivia stormed out. “Is it going to be like this every morning now?”

Tonight at dinner, Micky would suggest a proper morning bathroom schedule. She shouldn’t have tried to wing it like this. “We’ll work it out, sweetie.” She resisted the urge to kiss her daughter on the top of the head—Olivia had grown out of accepting spontaneous motherly affection a while ago.

Olivia headed off to her room and banged the door shut behind her.

Happy times at the Steele-Ferros.

* * *

Micky never visited The Pink Bean before lunch, and the morning rush took her by surprise. She watched as Kristin and Josephine, the only other morning-shift employee, moved behind the counter with astounding efficiency. As a mother who had just fought with her daughter over bathroom time, Micky greatly doubted her ability to ever do what the two women were accomplishing. They had a rhythm about them, Kristin taking the orders and Josephine executing them seamlessly.

Micky felt foolish just standing around like that. The only thing she’d done so far was take cups of coffee to customers who were sitting at a table, but at this time of the day, most beverages were sold for on-the-go.

Another conclusion she drew was that by opening The Pink Bean, Kristin had built a goldmine. Australians were serious about their coffee, and they were equally willing to pay good money—albeit way too much—for a cup of it from their favorite vendor. Micky imagined all the people who had walked out of there with a scalding hot paper cup on their way to the office, enjoying Kristin’s work. And it was hard work, she could see now.

“Hi, Micky,” Sheryl, Kristin’s partner, said. “First day, huh?” She stood in the middle of the line, clearly not expecting special treatment.

Micky walked over to her, feeling exceedingly self-conscious. She pecked Sheryl quickly on the cheek. “It’s a bit daunting.”

“I bet.” Sheryl always dressed casually for work, and today was no different. She wore jeans and a loose-hanging blouse. Micky actually looked forward to getting to know her and Kristin better. They were acquaintances now who said hello and good-bye to each other and had never gotten further than making small talk. They were an impressive couple to whom, Micky had to admit, she looked up.

“Why don’t you sit down and I’ll bring over your coffee?” Micky said.

Sheryl gave a deep belly laugh. “You obviously don’t yet know the rules of The Pink Bean.” She shuffled forward in the queue. “General Park over there doesn’t do nepotism.” She eyed her partner from a distance. “Not even for me, her wife who owns half this place.” She winked at Micky. “I’ll wait my turn, otherwise I’ll get in trouble tonight.”

Micky gave a nervous giggle. She’d know all about Kristin’s rules soon enough.

She looked at the ever-growing queue and wondered what was so much better about being there than her usual routine of meandering around the aisles of the organic supermarket in Potts Point and picking out the best-looking produce for dinner—at least her children always had a huge appetite after school.

“Micky, can you fetch us some more cocoa powder from the back, please,” Kristin asked, and Micky snapped to attention, though she had no idea where the cocoa powder, or anything else for that matter, was to be found.

<>

No Strings Attached will be available on 14 July 2016

NEW RELEASE: The Road to You

We are back in Hong Kong and The Road to You is now available! (I could really end this blog post here, but I’m much too long-winded for that. ;-p)

If you’ve read any of my books, you know I’m hardly the queen of the slow burn. My characters do not resist temptation easily. Yet, when reading a romance novel, though it drives me crazy sometimes (and has me shouting at my Kindle) I do thoroughly enjoy it when it takes forever for two characters to realize their true feelings for each other. So, I said to myself, what the heck, let’s try something new (yes, I have conversations like that with myself every day–usually when I’m riding my bike.)

Preview ‘The Road to You’

Hello from Belgium! Everything’s going well, bar a tumble down the stairs that left half of my body comically bruised (I can laugh at it now.)

High Rise is on sale!

Hello from Belgium! Just a quick note to let you know that High Rise (The Complete Collection) is on sale for $0.99 on ALL Amazon stores until 5 May. Get your sexy lesbian drama for a bargain price while you can! Here are the links:

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Amazon DE

Amazon CA

Amazon AUS

Note: I wrote High Rise before I ‘rebranded’ myself as more of a lesbian romance author, so it has many, many sexy scenes. Just FYI.

Seasons of Love audiobook

I’m so happy to announce that Seasons of Love is now also available as an audiobook. This is my very first audiobook so I’m doubly excited about this release. I hope there will be many more to follow. Carmen Rose, the narrator, nailed Alice’s voice (and has a lovely British accent, which is always a plus.) Here’s where you can get your hands on the audio version of what I still consider my best novel (and fill your ears with some summery sexiness):

Amazon US
Amazon UK
Audible
iTunes
Tantor (Direct from publisher)

+ + +

Latest releases: Far from the World We Know, From Top To Bottom and French Kissing: Season Three

+ + +

Want Hired Help AND Summer's End for FREE? Subscribe to my mailing list >>

+ + +

Want more FREE stories? Download French Kissing: Episode One, Fool for Love (High Rise Novella One), Wetter, All of Me and New Girl

Mrs Bliss: Work-life balance

This post is less publishing related and more general and personal than the previous ones, I apologise to anyone who was hoping for some publishing wisdom. However I think it’s an important topic for any self-employed person, including in the publishing business, so here goes.

Questions we’re asked often are “How do you find a good work-life balance? How do you keep your work and home life separated?”

As a self-employed couple who live and work together, it’s an important question. When you’re passionate about your work, as we are, it’s very easy to let it invade every aspect and moment of your life. I don’t think a single day has gone by in the last few years when we haven’t discussed some work-related stuff, even when we were on holiday. So many times we’ve caught ourselves talking shop when we were supposed to be enjoying time off and had to explicitly state: “No more work talk!”

One of the things we did after deciding to try to make Ladylit a full-time business for us both, was find an office space outside of home. It was important to me to try to keep work outside of the home as much as possible, after several years of working from home and finding myself replying to emails from my laptop in the couch at 10 p.m. (which partly had to do with the time difference with Europe, but was also definitely related to the fact that home equalled office and work).

This outside office for me to go to every morning allowed Harper to have a dedicated writing space at home where she could create in complete isolation, without me around to distract her. It also gave us a space to discuss work related issues, leave them there when we went home, and the ability to say, “Let’s talk about this at the office tomorrow,” whenever we found ourselves drifting towards a work topic over dinner or when we were supposed to be off the clock. This definitely helped achieve some kind of balance and is something I can highly recommend to any freelancers/entrepreneurs.

Of course this does not stop us completely from talking about work even on our days off, especially since we’re in the business of creating and the world around us is a constant source of inspiration. An experience while on holiday can spark an idea for a new story for Harper to write. She will usually bring it up and we’ll discuss it and make some notes in order to not forget. And I think that’s okay because that’s the fun part of our business and it doesn’t feel like work. But as soon as we start on things that do feel like work, we try to stop and make plans to discuss them later, when we are at the office.

This balance that we’ve found in the last couple of years is going to be thrown overboard somewhat starting in February next year. You see, we have decided that part of what helps us be happy and inspired and balanced, is traveling and seeing new places. We’ve come to realise that we value experiences much more than things.

We love going on holiday and discovering somewhere new, and being in Asia for several years has allowed us to do just that. But staying somewhere for a week or two is too short to really experience a place fully. So we’ve decided to take advantage of the fact that most of our work can be done pretty much anywhere and see more of the world by becoming what is now commonly called ‘digital nomads’. What that means is that we’ll be going somewhere and staying there for two to three months, so we can experience what it’s like to live there, at least for a short while. Our first stop will be in New Zealand. We’ve tentatively decided on having Christchurch as our base so we can explore the beauty of the South Island. (Any Kiwis out there, please feel free to offer any pointers on places to stay, things to see, etc.)

We’ll be renting a flat or house for our time in each destination but of course we will no longer have our own outside office to go to in order to talk about work issues. However we think we’ll still be able to find the right work-life balance, albeit in another way.

We’ll be in a new place, experiencing new things, which, apart from providing fresh inspiration for new books, will give us plenty to talk about other than work-related stuff. Additionally, even though we’re already in a position where we can choose when we work, and are not bound to a regular Monday to Friday schedule, we do tend to stick to one because most of our friends are in jobs that are in that pattern. If we worked at weekends and took weekdays off, we would never get to see them. But when we’ll be ‘nomading’, that will no longer be a factor and we will truly be able to make our own schedule, depending on how much we have to do a specific day, week or month.

In the last few months we have worked really hard at streamlining our work process (we’ve had to with Harper publishing a book every month!) and we think we’ve developed a rhythm that allows us to be very efficient in the time we spend working, so that we will have enough time to explore and experience every destination we choose to go to. Of course, we’ll only know if it works out that way once we actually do it, but we’re very excited to try!

We’ll be talking about this topic more on next week’s Harper Bliss & Her Mrs podcast and I’ll be posting regular updates on our plans and adventures so stay tuned to find out if we manage to find our balance on our travels.

Caroline

+ + +

Latest releases: Far from the World We Know, From Top To Bottom and French Kissing: Season Three

+ + +

Want Hired Help AND Summer's End for FREE? Subscribe to my mailing list >>

+ + +

Want more FREE stories? Download French Kissing: Episode One, Fool for Love (High Rise Novella One), Wetter, All of Me and New Girl

GIVEAWAY: Win 5 lesbian fiction books!

Giveaway time! I’m giving away 5 lesbian fiction books (paperback). Some of them are from my personal collection (so second-hand and avidly read) and some of them are brand new. Here’s what I’ve put together:

Best Lesbian Erotica 2016 – Edited by Sacchi Green
Girls Only: The Collection – Harper Bliss (signed by author)
Fool on the Hill – Morgan Hunt
Annie on my Mind – Nancy Garden
Summer Love – Edited by Harper Bliss and Caroline Manchoulas (signed by editors)

I’ve spent the afternoon setting up a plugin on my blog to make this giveaway (hopefully) run smoothly. If it works well, I’ll be doing more of these. The idea is that for a chance to win the stack of paperbacks, you subscribe to my mailing list. Yes, you can still enter the giveaway if you’re already subscribed. I’ll remove duplicates after the contest has ended so you won’t receive my newsletters twice.

Once you’ve entered the giveaway, you can increase your chances of winning by sharing the link to the giveaway. You can do so automatically on Twitter and Google+ with the buttons below, for Facebook and other social media, you’ll need to copy/paste your own ‘lucky URL’. Don’t worry, this is not compulsory, but it does triple your chance to win.

Good luck!

Win 5 lesbian fiction books!


Your Entries
0


Total Entries
73


Days Left
4

I'm giving away the following 5 books (paperback editions):
Best Lesbian Erotica 2016 - Edited by Sacchi Green
Girls Only: The Collection - Harper Bliss (signed by author)
Fool on the Hill - Morgan Hunt
Annie on my Mind - Nancy Garden
Summer Love - Edited by Harper Bliss and Caroline Manchoulas (signed by editors)
 

DISCLAIMER: By entering this giveaway your email address will be added to my mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time.

remaining






Powered by ContestFriend

+ + +

Latest releases: Far from the World We Know, From Top To Bottom and French Kissing: Season Three

+ + +

Want Hired Help AND Summer's End for FREE? Subscribe to my mailing list >>

+ + +

Want more FREE stories? Download French Kissing: Episode One, Fool for Love (High Rise Novella One), Wetter, All of Me and New Girl

Mrs Bliss: How we keep learning in order to grow

In this week’s episode of Harper Bliss & Her Mrs. we talked about the most important tools and software we use for writing and publishing. Something we did not get into, but is a big part of what we do every day, is our constant endeavour to keep learning and educating ourselves on new developments in the publishing industry, as well as possible techniques to use and avenues to explore to grow our business. These days the internet offers many resources—books, blogs, podcasts, courses—to do just that and in this post I would like to share some of our favourites, which we also consider important tools for writing and publishing.

One major source of valuable information for any independent author or publisher is the trio of Sean Platt, David Wright and Johnny B. Truant, also known as the guys behind The Self-Publishing Podcast. Their weekly flagship show is hugely entertaining and offers insights from them and their guests on the writing as well as the publishing side of things and they also have other podcasts, like The Authorpreneur’s Almanac and The Smarter Artist which offer very specific tips on the many facets of being an indie author or publisher. In addition to that, they published a book that inspired us a lot to get to where we are now: Write. Publish. Repeat. And they now have a follow-up to that title with Iterate and Optimize, which I am currently reading. There will be a blog post in the next few weeks about how we have iterated and optimised our work here at Ladylit.

Thecreativepenn.com is THE place to go to learn about marketing books as an indie. Joanna Penn is a very successful author of both fiction (under the name J.F. Penn) and non-fiction books, such as Successful Self-Publishing: How to self-publish and market your book in ebook and print, and her weekly podcasts always feature very informative interviews with the creative movers and shakers in the publishing world and beyond. We listen to it religiously and have definitely been inspired to apply to our business some of the things we learned from Joanna and her guests.

Another great source for marketing advice, specifically on how to grow and use your mailing list, is Nick Stephenson. He has books (Supercharge Your Kindle Sales is one of them) a paying course (which we took and has helped us in various ways, like growing our mailing list, building a launch team, getting extra reviews), but also some free videos that are a good place to start for anyone reluctant to spend any money.

One of the things we are planning to get better at this year, is Facebook ads. The authority on this is Mark Dawson. His website has some instructional videos and he has just started his own podcast with beginning author James Blatch, called The Self-Publishing Formula Podcast. The combination of an experienced and successful author with a newbie, makes for an interesting exchange of perspectives on publishing. Mark also provides monthly income reports where he details how much he spent on advertising and how much he made as a result of that advertising, which is very informative for us, in view of our plan to do more Facebook advertising ourselves.

For the writers among you, a book that Harper found very helpful is 2k to 10k: Writing Faster, Writing Better, and Writing More of What You Love. As her followers will probably know, she is obsessed with her word count and this book has really helped her crank those words out faster, and also better.

Finally, some blogs we follow:

– Joe Konrath is a pioneer and one of the most staunch defenders of indie publishing (and Amazon). Check out his blog for, among other things, entertaining takedowns of the traditional publishing industry.

– Even though here in Hong Kong we seem to be geo-blocked from accessing the site directly, we follow The Passive Voice through a feed reader for links to articles about all things publishing.

This is just a short sample of resources and there are so many books and blogs that could be listed here as well, but hopefully they can provide some interesting reading to anyone looking to start or grow their author and publishing business.

+ + +

Latest releases: Far from the World We Know, From Top To Bottom and French Kissing: Season Three

+ + +

Want Hired Help AND Summer's End for FREE? Subscribe to my mailing list >>

+ + +

Want more FREE stories? Download French Kissing: Episode One, Fool for Love (High Rise Novella One), Wetter, All of Me and New Girl