C. Gockel's Blog, page 75
March 5, 2015
Available EVERYWHERE:Loki vowed Asgard would burn while Odin...
Available EVERYWHERE:
Loki vowed Asgard would burn while Odin kneeled before him.
Bohdi Patel, latest incarnation of Chaos, wants nothing to do with Loki’s psychotic oath.
Stranded on the icy world of Jotunheim with Amy Lewis, his friend Steve Rogers, and an unlikely band of civilians, magical beings, and elite military, Bohdi just wants to keep himself and his friends alive … but when you’re Chaos incarnate, even the simplest goals are complicated.
If Jotunheim doesn’t kill them, Odin will, and if Odin doesn’t, the secrets they harbor might.
In the final installment of I Bring the Fire, Bohdi, Amy, Steve, and their companions learn that Chaos cannot be contained, some secrets cannot be kept, and some vows cannot be broken.
Now on Amazon, Smashwords, Scribd, Apple, B&N, GooglePlay, & Kobo
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Not familiar with the I Bring the Fire Series? The first in the series is FREE on Amazon, iBooks, B&N, Smashwords, Kobo, and GooglePlay.
March 3, 2015
First stab at blurb for Ragnarok
Loki vowed Asgard would burn.
Bohdi Patel, latest incarnation of Chaos, wants nothing to do with Loki’s psychotic oath.
Stranded on the icy world of Jotunheim with Amy Lewis, his friend Steve Rogers, and an unlikely band of civilians, magical beings, and elite military, Bohdi just wants to keep himself and his friends alive … but when you’re the incarnation of Chaos, even the simplest of goals are complicated.
If Jotunheim doesn’t kill them, Odin will, and if Odin doesn’t, the secrets they harbor might.
In the final installment of I Bring the Fire, Bohdi, Amy, Steve, and their companions learn that Chaos cannot be contained, some secrets cannot be kept, and some vows cannot be broken.
cgockel:ibringthefireodin:Ragnarok is with my betas. So far, so...
Ragnarok is with my betas. So far, so good! Don’t miss Ragnarok’s release, sign up for my mailing list.
I’m formatting Ragnarok! Don’t miss its release. Sign up for my mailing list: mailing list.
March 2, 2015
eyetosky:Audiobook lunch break sketching.
Been spending the...
Audiobook lunch break sketching.
Been spending the current round of deadlines mainlining Lindsay Buroker’s Emperor’s Edge, which is for free(!) online at http://podiobooks.com/title/the-emperors-edge-a-high-fantasy-novel-in-an-era-of-steam/.
Sicarius wins hands down for Best “I See What You Did There” Assassin Name by a landslide.
Yesterday I posted that I was interviewed by Lindsay Buroker, author of the Emperor’s Edge series. This is Sicarius, one of the characters from that series. Now you know you want to read it. The first book in the series is free on Amazon, Smashwords, iBookstore, Nook, and Kobo (I reviewed it here — it’s the start of a great series!)
Just wanted to tell you that I just finished I bring the fire part I... I enjoyed it thoroughly... And as a Loki fan I like your interpretation a whole lot..
Oh, thank you anon! I am just finishing up Ragnarok: I Bring the Fire Part VI. It’s nice to know people are still reading Part I!
March 1, 2015
I was interviewed this week by the wonderful Lindsay Buroker,...
I was interviewed this week by the wonderful Lindsay Buroker, Jeffrey Poole, and Joseph Lallo for the Sci-Fi and Fantasy Marketing podcast.
I talked Norse myth, Hinduism (briefly—Hinduism has so many branches, and encapsulates so many LIVING sects, it is impossible to summarize) … and marketing, too. For the past four months I’ve made a living wage off of writing (I’m as shocked as anyone—I may talk more about it later). I don’t know if that makes me an expert—but maybe they were running low on speakers for the month?
Anyway, it was great to talk with one of my self-publishing heroes (Lindsay!), and errr … I don’t think I flubbed it completely. Except that I was so nervous, I managed to lock myself out of the office beforehand with the KEYS in the office. My husband kicked in the door so I could make it to the Google Hangout. That’s love. (I’m sure he’s really always wanted to do that.)
Lindsay Buroker’s first in series is free here (look out, it’s addictive).
Joseph Lallo’s is here.
Jeffrey Poole’s first free in series is here.
(Haven’t read Joseph or Lallos, but they look interesting—and they are free).
February 25, 2015
Staring at pictures of Suraj Sharma will not magically create an...
Staring at pictures of Suraj Sharma will not magically create an illustration of Bohdi Patel.
FYI: Bohdi’s real name will be revealed in Ragnarok—and you know the Shiva / Loki comparison? I pulled that idea out of my hat—but turns out there is some compelling linguistic evidence for that.
February 23, 2015
cyrilslady:mapleglowsticks:thehat2:meladoodle:
what do you mean a thesaurus isnt a dinosaur
this...
what do you mean a thesaurus isnt a dinosaur
this is adorable as fuck and you can’t tell me otherwise
Behold the mighty thesaurasaurus.
February 22, 2015
cgockel:PROMOS THIS MONTHIt’s been a while since I’ve released...
PROMOS THIS MONTH
It’s been a while since I’ve released (Ragnarok is on the way; I’m getting the second half of edits back today!) so I’ve really been relying on promos to get me through the past few months. This month, because I wasn’t sure I was going to release I held back on running promotions (typically I try to spend $250/month on promotional activities). I did this to 1) save money for promos as soon as Ragnarok is finished. 2) I’ve hit most of the promo circuit before, now when people see my permafree promoted they look for the last book in my series … since there is nothing there for them to buy, they are not as effective.
But I did try a couple of new things this month:
1) I tried Buck Books to advertise my permafree.Buck Books is one of those places that doesn’t charge for your promotion, but they do ask that you promote them (*waves hands at Steve at Buck Books—see I did it!*). As you can see, they were by far the best mover of my permafree this month. You can also tell from the little blip in the red line below the green line that they are effective at not just giving away freebies, they also have people who are genuinely READERS who are going to snag your book 2 right away.
Buck Books sends out a very barebones email. No pictures of books, just a short blurb. This probably worked in my favor as my book’s cover, though pretty, isn’t particularly well suited to it’s genre. (I’m working on that!)
2) I tried advertising Part One at FREE and Part Two at 99 Cents in the same email with BKnights and BestEbookReaderLovers
For the Bknights ad it was $10 more than it could have been because I asked for next day service. There is some indication that getting the “next day” gets you higher on their email. I was very high on their email. I still didn’t get that many downloads and the sales were meh. I probably won’t be doing that again (though I may book a FB post with both books together if possible.) Also, Bknights relies heavily on your cover to do the heavy lifting—I think that brought me down.
BestEbookReaderLover's ad paid for itself the same day with sales of Part 2 (106 sales—about 86 more than typical). But check out the piddling downloads of Part 1 … that was because the link to my first free in series was BROKEN in their email post. I'm going to see if I can get them to run me again free, just in their email … but not until Ragnarok comes out.
3) Pretty pictures on Tumblr. This isn’t really new. I can’t put a price tag since I did the illustration, but they tend to get me between 50-100 extra downloads across *ALL* platforms (Apple users in particular like them). Every 16 reblogs seem to equal about 100 downloads … so thanks everyone who has been reblogging my cover experiments!)
Conclusions: Bknights probably isn’t the best service for me until my covers are redone. Bestebookreaderlovers is DAH bomb for 99 cent sales, but damn, you have to check in on them! Buck Books is completely worth your time. I’ve added them to my FREE book listing sites.
Good luck — happy promoting. Just a reminder, the first ebook in my Loki series I Bring the Fire is still free at Amazon, iBooks, B&N, Kobo, and GooglePlay.
