M.B. Feeney's Blog, page 6

#nano2016 – Day 1. I’d Call It a Success.

Day 1 – it’s currently 09:15pm, and I’m calling it a day. Girl and Boys is chugging away nicely.

At some point throughout the day, I’d decided that I want my own personal daily goal to be 2,000 words a day. That way, I’ll be ahead of myself if ever I need to miss a day of writing for any reason (hey, it happens. I’m a mum of kids who argue!)

Today’s word count: 2,060 – I’d call that a win. For now…

Now it’s time for me to put on my PJs and chill with my kindle.

Let’s hope that tomorrow is just as productive, if not more. If I manage to “win” this year, this book will end up about 75,000 words long. An actual full length novel. It’s been a while since I wrote one of those!

Also, if I win, what’s to stop me taking part in Camp Nano next year?

NaNoWrimo Update

As you know, I’ve succumbed to the madness yet again and have signed up for NaNo 2016. I know I mentioned in the last post about it, that I’d decided to go rebel and work on On the Buses. Well, I still am, only now it’s called Girls and Boys.

I chose this title for two reasons. One is that while the book is, at heart, a romance book, there’s also a ‘bromance’ element to it between Jack and Andy. I love these two idiots and I really hope readers love them as much as I do. Second, the story is set in London in the 1990s and there is a heavy Britpop element throughout.

This title came from the Blur song of the same name as it brings back a lot of good memories of London in that time for me, plus is just fits. If you don’t know the song, check out the video below.

Hopefully, I’ll forge on and get through the month without going mad or giving up. I’ll try and make some time to post updates now and then throughout November!

Right Click, Love – The Audiobook – Now Available!

If you check out the Books page over here on my blog, you’ll see that the Right Click, Love audiobook is now available. It’s on Audible and Amazon; I’m still waiting for iTunes.

Claire M. James has done a wonderful job with Jodie and Louise’s story and I couldn’t love it more.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Here We Go Again…

I have attempted NaNoWriMo so many times and every time I’ve failed, yet I still keep trying.

This year, I’m using it to push myself to get On the Buses (may still change that title) finally finished. It’s currently sat at around 24,000 words and I’d like it to be around 80,000 so another 50 (If I win Nano this year) would be a great chunk done.

It’s now the 2nd of October, and I have a couple of things to get finished before I can dive in to Buses. Please keep your fingers crossed for me!

I’ve added a wordcount widget to this blog in the hopes it’ll motivate me to keep going.

If you’re also doing Nano this year, find me (username mouse555) and add me as a buddy!

I must be crazy…

Exciting Things Are A Coming…

If you follow me over on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, you may have noticed my news. If not… here goes.

Tada!!!

I can’t even explain how excited I am to have words I’ve written come to life via an audiobook. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for about a year or so now – ever since I met a blind reader at a signing. Well, it’s finally happening, and I couldn’t be happier that these two books are the first to be produced.

Hopefully, you’ll all love them as much as I am so far.

I’ll keep you updated as much as I can – it’s currently a waiting game, so once I have news and more concrete release dates I’ll announce it (Most likely on Facebook first).

Repentance is LIVE

Summary:

Tyler King has moved away from his family in order to help himself move on from the mistakes he made in High School.

A summer romance could lead to so much more, it could lead to him finally surrendering to his repentance for his past actions.

Repentance is LIVE!!

Buy it NOW!

Amazon: http://mybook.to/repentance

iTunes: http://apple.co/2clozUb

Kobo: http://bit.ly/2cHiP6P

Waiting on a B&N link to go live still

The Exchange Series – An update.

I’d never planned to write a series because I was always worried that I’d never be able to maintain one, but with so many people writing standalone series’, I decided to give it a go.

Admittedly, I copped out a little with The Exchange Series, because they’re all shorts (around 10k each roughly), but I’ve enjoyed it.

Dear Diary and Reluctance are already available, while book three – Repentence – is awaiting formatting and as soon as it’s ready will be released. The fourth – Dear John – is currently with pre readers. This will be the final book in the series, and in the new year, I will be working on combining them into an omnibus paperback.

I have to admit, I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the reception these books have received and a lot of the comments concern the way they’ve been written (diary and journal entries). I’m always pushing myself to be a little bit different where I can, and this format just worked. I will say now though, Repentence and Dear John are not the same format, but they are both different from a straight narrative.

Hopefully, both will be released soon, and I hope you love them as much as I’ve loved writing them.

Here are a couple of short teasers from both:

Repentence:

When his mom first told him a British chick was coming to stay with them, Tyler had been like a shark tasting fresh blood. He was going to charm her into his bed, then let her head back home, he hadn’t forseen her coming back thanks to his brother knocking her up. What choice did any of them have but to have her in the house, this time permanently?

“Hey, where d’you go just then?” Anna’s question brought his attention back to the present. Once again he could feel the warm sand on his bare feet and her small form in his arms. He smiled down at her.

“Sorry, I was thinking about home.” He bent to capture her lips with his own. The kiss making his heart rate pick up as every other kiss they’d shared had done. When he boarded the plane back in Arizona, he’d never expected much to happen on his vacation. He’d planned on lounging on the beach during the day, and drinking in bars in the evenings, but as he was checking into his hotel, he’d spotted Anna struggling with her bags and from the moment he’d helped her into the elevator, his plans had changed.

Plans that had never included falling in love with someone in a two week period.

######

Dear John:

“As many of you know, I spent a lot of time over in the UK. During my time there, I made many contacts with teachers in schools and one such contact has agreed to take part in this project with us. Inside these envelopes, you will find a name and address of your counterpart at a high school in Brighton, a town on the south coast of England. You will, over the entire semester, exchange letters with them and learn about them, their family, and the culture they associate themselves with in the UK. At the end of the semester, you will present your letters— so keep copies of those you mail out via myself and the school, after all, we don’t expect you to pay for postage to the UK.”

I stared at him, unsure what the point of this assignment was. We’d all learnt how to write letters years ago.

“In this technological age, handwritten letters are a rarity and this saddens me, so I aim to bring them back; even if only for one semester. Maybe some of you will end up with a pen pal for life and continue to correspond with them after this project is over. I predict that many of you will drop your correspondent like a hot potato once the semester is over, but as long as you learn something from them, that is your prerogative. You may open your envelopes.”

The sound of tearing paper filled the air. I slid the single sheet out. The only thing printed on it was:

                    John Davids

                   c/o 78-92 Falmer Academy

                   Falmer Road

                   Brighton

                   East Sussex

                   BN2 3FF

Groaning to myself at not getting a female pen pal, I tucked the paper into my bag and waited for Mr. Larsson to continue the lesson.

######

Hopefully, these will leave you wanting more! As soon as I have dates of release (or they’re live if I’m feeling sneaky), you’ll be the first to know. Make sure you’re following my Facebook Page to keep up to date with everything. That’s usually the first place I post anything.

Story Exchange

Earlier this year, I signed up to take part in a story exchange with some fanfic writers on Facebook. I used to write Twilight fanfic years ago, and I’m still friends with many that still do.

I used to take part in fic story exchanges, and the woman who organises those decided to organise one for original works.

The basic premise is this: You give 3 (pretty vague) prompts, a selection of 3 names and the genre you wish your story to be and what you are willing to write. Then, these prompts and names get swapped around and given to someone else. Everyone writes their story (2-10k) and posts on Wattpad on the same day.

Well, today is posting day and I thought I’d share the link to my story as well as the link to the tag so you can check out the others if you wish.

I can’t wait to read the story that was written for me.

My Story

Story Exchange Tag

If you decided to read the stories, please leave the author a little comment. It boosts our ego and self esteem

Shhhh… It’s a Secret, Apparently.

If you’re a reader who is active on Facebook, Twitter, any social media, you’ll know that there are literally hundreds of authors (both indie and trad) trying to get you to buy their books. We post in FB groups, on our author pages, well thought out tweets, Tumblr posts, Thunderclap campaigns etc… the list goes on and on. The hardest part of this is to know what is actually working and what is potentially turning readers away.

As a reader, someone who buys books and then talks about them on my review blog, there are a lot of things that other authors do that will instantly blacklist them.

Instant DMs on Twitter when I follow you telling me to check out your FB, Blog, Amazon page… nope. If you have an auto message bot set up on your account telling me about your product, then I will unfollow and never buy your books. Take the time to interact with your readers, gauge them as a person, not a consumer.
Inviting me to ‘like’ you author page the moment I accept your friend request. See above.
Spamming FB groups – this is a fine line. I, along with a lot of other authors, utilise FB promotional groups. That’s what they are there for. Every 3-4 days, I pick a book, write up a snazzy promo post (Or pick a pre written one – judge me) and I will post in around 25 groups that I’m a member of. Yes, this is spamming… however, I limit how often I do this. There is nothing worse than seeing the same authors doing what I do, either every single day, or even multiple times per day (I have seen it done twice a day). I get you have a lot of books you wish to promote, but after a while readers will start to hide your posts.
Authors with poorly written and mispelled social media posts. This is a bone of contention for me. Yes, I make mistakes and mispell my words all the dam time, especially when I post using my phone (fat finger syndrome), yet I will then go back and edit that post. More often than not, I am seeing authors mispelling simple words, using the wrong word, and even worse – using the wrong homophone in their post. I’m in no way a self proclaimed ‘grammar nazi’, but if you don’t know the difference between your and you’re, there, their, and they’re or to, two, and too, then why should I pay for you book? – That sounds extremely condescending, I know. But it’s a pet peeve.

There are the main things that bug me as a reader, and as a reader I wonder if these forms of marketing actually work.

As mentioned above, I use Facebook promotion groups a couple times a week. I have noticed that on occasion, after I’m done ‘spamming’, I can get 2-3 sales. But, when I post these promotional posts in the groups, I also post them onto Tumblr, Google+, and on my FB Author page (which then tweets it for me), so in honesty, I can’t say for definite that the sale has come from FB.

I haven’t tried paid ads through Facebook as yet, but I have seen mixed reviews from friends. Admittedly, these sponsored posts get seen a hell of a lot more, by more people, but does that equal a boost in sales? I don’t know and it will be something I investigate further eventually.

I’ve also used a promotions company to host blog tours for new releases, and again, while that gets my books visible, it doesn’t also equate sales.

Social media as a whole is a great tool for advertising, but to get that post, tweet, or anything seen, you either have to pay for it or have a gazillion followers to share it. I’m lucky in a way, I have a few good friends who will share or retweet something when I post it and I appreciate that more than I can express, but again. Does visibility equal sales?

This brings me to Thunderclap campaigns.

If you don’t know what these are, in very simple layman’s terms, it’s a bit like a kickstarter campaign without the money. Basically, an author (in this instance) sets up a campain to release on ‘x’ date. They need a certain amount of supporters for it to go live on that date. If they get the required amount, the message is posted on Facebook, twitter, and Tumblr. If they don’t reach the required amount, nothing is posted.

Now, I have used Thunderclap on three different occasions and I can honestly say that while I have reached the required amount of supporters, I can’t say for definite that they have helped with my sales.

This is the problem I and many other (indie especially) authors are facing. It seems like there is a secret strategy to boost sales, yet no one knows exactly what that strategy is. Other than word of mouth, none of these seemingly proactive advertising strategies seem to work (for me at least).

It often feels like that although we all do the same thing, what works for one, doesn’t work for others… it’s like a state secret or something, and I know I would LOVE to crack it wide open.

I’d love to hear if any of these have worked for you or not, or if you have any other ideas for advertising that don’t break the bank. Ones that don’t equate to me begging for you, the reader, to buy my book or I’ll not be able to buy my dog a new tennis ball, or those that piss potential readers off before they’ve even picked up one of my books.

 

L.A. is LIVE!

Gage gets his say…

Synopsis:

It Started in Texas, but as we all know, “…Gage Charles Weston will not start something without thinking about the consequences.” In this companion novella to the story that started it all, get a peek inside Gage’s head and find out what he was thinking and experiencing while Charlotte was turning his world upside down and vice versa.

 

Buy Links:

B&N : iTunes : Kobo : Amazon

Excerpt:

Christmas with the Westons was always great fun, but being out of practice of having fifteen people in one house, five of whom are under the age of seven, was hard work. By the time Christmas Day was done with, I was itching to get out of the house, even just for an hour or so. Dad must have sensed it, because the morning after the big day, he came into the kitchen and handed me my old shotgun. Without a word, I followed him out to his truck, a box of shells resting on the dash.

It had been so long since Dad and I had been down to the old pasture to shoot; over the years we’d taken a bunch of stuff over there to use as target practice, but this time we raided the trash and gathered up a load of old beer cans. It took me a while to get used to the recoil against my shoulder, but I was soon numb to it and hitting can after can.

“Thanks for this Dad; it was just what I needed.” I told him once we’d run out of ammo, and sat on the hood of the truck, a flask of strong coffee between us.

“It was written all over your face boy, you’re not yourself this year.” There was no way I was getting down from the trunk unless I told him what was going on, and the thought made me sigh. “Boy, I’m worried about you. You haven’t got one of your… ‘girls’ pregnant have you.”

Neither of my parents approved of how I lived my life when it came to sex, but never came out and said anything straight to me about it, the odd comment like this one were usually passed and ignored.

“No dad, I haven’t; I always make sure I’m protected. Remember that talk we had when I was in sixth grade?” Dad laughed at the memory, making me smile a little. “But, don’t worry. I’ve not even had sex in three weeks.” The fact he was surprised by statement was a little depressing.

“Oh, really.” I watched as he poured us another cup of coffee. “What caused the change of heart?”

“I met a girl.” It was the only way I could even begin to explain.

“That’s great son, your mom will be happy.” I could just imagine my dad stalking into the house and announcing to my mom that I’d met someone, and Mom digging out bridal magazines. I shuddered at the Hallmark movie playing out before me.

“Dad, slow down. It’s not that simple.”