Addison Westlake's Blog, page 4

Top 10 Ways to Sink your New Book Like The Titanic

Two weeks ago I self-published my romantic comedy novel “Christmas in Wine Country” on Amazon as an ebook. And let me tell you, it’s been a wild ride. Apparently, there’s this thing called “marketing” or “advertising” your work. Some experts even recommend starting this process BEFORE you publish. Crazy, right?Anyway, I’ve learned a lot in the past two weeks about trying to get the word out about a new book. And I’ve come across a lot of helpful advice on the Internet, usually written by best-selling, self-published authors who’ve gone from zero to hero with savvy marketing plans and amazing headshots of themselves that they didn’t just crop out of a photo in which they’re surrounded by four children.Well, how about some how-tos from someone who’s doing most things wrong? Let’s turn my pain into your gain.Here’s my Top 10 List of Things Not To Do when Promoting Your New Book:#10 Tweet, repeatedly, to no followers.#9 Have difficulty navigating your new gmail account so that when people express interest in your book you don’t see their emails and never reply.#8 Feel too awkward promoting your book to mention it to anyone.#7 Insist that your book defies categorization – not chick lit, not rom com, not women’s lit, not romance. It can’t be boxed-in or even really described, you just have to read it.#6 Spend a lot of time wondering if it’s really all worth it.#5 Glance up from your computer screen, look around and really take in the filth. Feel compelled to clean instead of whatever else you were doing to promote your book.#4 Start reading that 5-pound tome that won the Pulitzer Prize in fiction. Wonder how much better it is than your book. Tweet about it.#3 Miss out on sleep by having nightmares that your new job is blogging for a pimp. (This actually happened to me. I don’t mean to be presumptuously self-analytical, but is it possible that I’m conflicted about promoting my work??? Funniest part of my dream: trying to find the “upside” of pimp-blogging. As in, “maybe the content will be so risqué that my blog will get a lot of followers!”#2 Devote the majority of your time to emailing the publicists of super famous people and telling them how much better your book is than their clients’ movie/single/TV show, etc. Then asking for the endorsement of aforementioned super famous people.#1 Widely publicize your mother’s review of your book, but only if she self-identifies as your mother and her review is mixed. “Well, my daughter’s always been something of a disappointment…”
Originally appeared on the "Chick Lit Goddess" wesbite -- thank you site administrator Isabella Louise Anderson! Here's a link to her great site: http://chicklitgoddess.com/2012/12/04...

New Author Q&A and guest blog

Check out my new Author Q&A and Guest Blog on the Chick Lit Goddess website!

http://chicklitgoddess.com/2012/12/04...

Also the "Christmas in Wine Country" blurb and a Chapter 1 excerpt:

http://chicklitgoddess.com/2012/12/04...

Thank you to site host Isabella for featuring "Christmas in Wine Country"!

Sorry, Tolstoy

OK, so what happened this weekend, exactly?
Because I have this really strange feeling that I ran a 2-day free Kindle promo and almost 9,000 people downloaded my book “Christmas in Wine Country.” It reached #22 on the Amazon Free Kindle Bestseller list OVERALL. #2 on humor and #9 in Contemporary Romance.
But that doesn’t just happen to books by self-published authors with no marketing or advertising, right? So I must have made that up.
BUT just in case I didn’t hallucinate it all – thank you everyone who downloaded it! I hope you enjoy the book!
I should say also say danke, gracias, grazie and cheers, mate! Because my favorite moment of the weekend was when my husband found the little arrow on my Amazon authors’ page that shows International sales. Apparently readers in Germany, France, Spain, Italy and the UK also showed “Christmas in Wine Country” some love!
And while I’m on the subject of showing love—or not—I need to issue an apology. When I Tweeted “Suck it, Tolstoy”, it was just because I was excited that my book jumped from #24 to #22 on the bestsellers list, leapfrogging over #23 "Anna Karenina." I meant no disrespect to Tolstoy, Russian authors in general, or the wider realm of classic literature. It was just the late-night rantings of an elated first-time self-published author celebrating the success of her novel. Now that I’m more composed and I’ve had some time to think about it what I’d really like to say to Tolstoy is “In Your Face!”

What's up with this "Anna Karenina"?

"Christmas in Wine Country" just hit #24 in Amazon's Free Kindle Bestsellers. That's OVERALL.

But, I'm like, what's up with #23? It's by a guy, first of all. Hello, doesn't he know that the hottest genre on Kindle is romance and romance writers are almost entirely female? Also, readers?

Anyway, his last name is something like Tolstoy, like that's easy to pronounce! Ever heard of a pen name, Leo? Something catchy like Leo Tots, something that grabs your attention and goes POP! Makes you think, I've got to hear what this guy has to say! Even if his book is like, hundreds and hundreds of pages long.

Because, seriously ladies, this book is going to, like, BREAK your Kindle if you download it. So, don't even try. Just go see the movie because your Kindle isn't going to have Jude Law in it, now is it?
And once you all stop downloading Anna Karenninninna or whatever it's called, "Christmas in Wine Country" can move up to 23...and then 22...and then...

Watch out #14 Les Miserables (not even an English title, people), I'm coming for you next...

FREE on Kindle today 12/1 and tomorrow 12/2

FREE for Kindle CHRISTMAS IN WINE COUNTRY by Addison Westlake Romantic Comedy tinyurl.com/d3qxx8b

Very excited - 1200 copies downloaded so far today! Thank you to everyone taking a look! Hope you download, curl up with a glass of wine and enjoy a laugh over the holidays!

1,000 copies downloaded so far today!

1,000 copies downloaded so far TODAY!
Yippee!
That ear-splitting whooping/screaming sound you just heard? That's not an injured seagull, that's me running around in circles celebrating in my kitchen!
Who do you think we should cast as Jake in the movie? RPatz? But he doesn't have the curls required for all that tousling...maybe they could put in extensions?
I totally see Isla Fisher as Lila. I loved her as the nympho/psycho in Wedding Crashers.
So many choices!
THANK YOU for checking out my book! I hope it makes you laugh this holiday season!

My new favorite pastime: clicking "refresh"

Good rainy morning to you all -- 
I'm freaking out a bit here -- 
My book "Christmas in Wine Country" is available for free today and tomorrow on Amazon tinyurl.com/d3qxx8b
And it appears as if people are downloading it. 
Lots of people. 
Like 3-5 every minute. 
What???
I LOVE you 3-5 people a minute, you know who you are!
Which is why I'm sitting at the kitchen table compulsively clicking "refresh" on my Amazon kindle "units" update. 
I will have to stand up at some point in the near future. I have to be somewhere at 10am and it takes 5 minutes to drive there but could take 5-10 to find parking and it's currently 9:27am but even as I'm writing this I'm clicking refresh and it's gone up another 12. WHAT????
I hope everyone ENJOYS the day, that my book makes people laugh, and everyone has a great December 1st!!!
Which has always been my favorite day of the year, by the way. The real start of the Christmas season :)
think I'll go compulsively click again...another 2...another 1...

FREE today 12/1/12 and tomorrow 12/2/12

·      FREE for Kindle CHRISTMAS IN WINE COUNTRY by Addison Westlake Romantic Comedy tinyurl.com/d3qxx8b

Make that Lucky #7

My ebook "Christmas in Wine Country" is now #7 in Amazon's "Hot New Releases" in chick lit -- or "Single Women's Fiction."
Yay!

Now We're Lucky #7!

Wow! This morning "Christmas in Wine Country" is up to #7 in Amazon's "Hot New Releases" in Single Women's Fiction, and #14 in both Humor and Humorous Releases!
I'm excited! And grateful!
And full of questions!
When did "Chick Lit" start being referred to as "Single Women's Fiction"? Is it considered a more polite term? And is "Adult Fiction" chick lit as well? Or does it mean adult as in ADULT -- mature audiences only??? So much to learn about the publishing industry...
Kisses to you all on this incredibly rainy morning in the Bay Area. Off to stomp my way around in my gigantic black rain boots.