K. Bromberg's Blog, page 24

Fueled 1 Year Anniversary Sale

It’s been 1 year since Fueled was published….Can you believe that?  Fueled has never been on sale for 99 cents, but I am doing it in honor of the anniversary date. So now through Friday night, Fueled will be 99 cents only. Thank you for all of your support over the year!!!!

Raced Pre-Order link live

Get ready for the Colton Points of View book. A reading companion to the Driven series. Release date is September 15th and the preorder link is:

 

Amazon Link

 

Driven Trilogy Trailer Contest

RULES:
* Trailer must be submitted by August 31, 2014
* Trailer must be submitted via dropbox, vimeo link, etc. to KBrombergwrites@gmail.com
* Create (2) versions of your trailer. One for posting that does not denote who the trailer was made by so that voting can be anonymous and one that gives you credit so I can post them after voting.
* Trailers must say *fan-made trailer”
* Trailers can be for the entire Driven series or just for Crashed

WINNERS:
* Winners will be selected by reader vote with each trailer posted with the trailer maker unnamed (to make voting fair)
* Winners will be selected, one for each of the two categories.
* Winner of entire Driven Trilogy book trailer receives:  Signed set of trilogy paperbacks, Driven Dooodle by Christina, $100 Amazon Gift Card, Driven T-shirt by Blingin’ Teez, Complete set of Driven Trilogy Audio books on CD, Driven Trilogy Swag Pack
* Winner of the Crashed Book Trailer receives: Signed copy of Crashed paperback, Driven Dooodle by Christina, $50 Amazon Gift Card, Complete set of Driven Trilogy Audio books on CD, Driven Trilogy Swag Pack

Good luck to everyone and please let me know if you have any questions.
Kristy 

So you’re writing a book…here’s the answers:

I get lots of emails a week asking me questions about self-publishing…I spend a lot of time personalizing each answer to these emails but most of them ask the same things and so I decided to do a blog post answering the most general questions. After reading them, if you have more specific questions, feel free to email me…

Q: Where did you get the ideas/story from?
A: That’s not something I can really answer. Ideas were just kind of there and the more I thought about them, the more the story unfolded and changed.


Q: How did you do it?
A: I sat down, outlined (which is my process and is conducive for all authors), and then wrote. My biggest advice is to write, write, write. The more you write the better you become. (Look at the progression of my writing from Driven to Fueled to Crashed.)


Q: How did you get people to read your books before publishing them?
A: I researched blogs that featured my genre for a while. Then about 30 days prior to my release I emailed them (or submitted via their website – each blog has their own specifications so make sure to take note) – a personal email (not a blanket email to 50 all at once) saying something specific about their blog and gave them some info about Driven (blurb, genre, release date, title, length, cover picture) and asked if they’d be interested in reading an ARC (Advanced reader’s copy) in return for a review. A review = visibility = readers seeing it and possibly buying it.

I contacted about 325 blogs for Driven. (Yes, it took forever). I received about 50 responses saying yes, they wanted an ARC.

Another way is to do a blog tour (look at your fav sites and you can see the companies they use or tour with)…this helps with exposure too.

There are also groups on Goodreads. You can see which reading groups fit your genre and contact the admins and see if you can offer copies for free to their members in exchange for a review.


Q: Did you hire someone to edit and format it for you so it’s ebook ready or did you do that yourself at first?
A: I did hire an editor with all three books. Editors are worth their weight in gold and there are definitely good ones and bad ones out there. I hired someone to do my cover design as I’m graphically disinclined. I formatted the e-book myself for Driven (and have since had it redone to be more fancy looking). The KDP website explains how to do it and if you google e-book formatting, there are tons of helpful websites on how to do it.

 

Q: When did you start promoting Driven before you published it?
A: When the first ARCs went out or about 30 days out I established a FB page, a Twitter Account, a Goodreads account, started my Amazon author page, etc.
 

 

Q: What are betas and where can I find them?
A: Betas are readers who read your book and tell you their thoughts on it. Some authors have people beta it as they’re writing their novel, others wait until the very end. I’ve done it both ways. For me, the most important thing for a beta is honesty regardless if it hurts my feelings or not. Where can you find a beta if you do not already have friends in the book community and don’t want to ask family? Try Goodreads. Look up beta groups there and there are people that offer to read your book and give you feedback.

 

Q: How quick until an agent will call?
A: There is no guarantee an agent ever will. There are plenty of successful authors that are self-published and prefer to stay that way.

 

Q: A blogger gave me a bad review, what now?
A: Well, we all get bad reviews. Of course they are hard to read but try to take something from them to make your story better. But remember bloggers are your friends. It’s not wise to badmouth a blogger because they dislike your story….don’t bite the hand that feeds you and all that…


Q: How do you get reviews on Amazon?
A: You can never ‘get’ reviews…you have to hope your book is good enough that readers chose to leave them or post gentle reminders about how reviews are important for all authors.


Q: What is the average word count on your books?
A: I’m a bad person to ask that question to because my self-published books are long. Like Driven was 125k words, Fueled 143k words, and Crashed 162k words…this is not typical of the industry. An average words count on a traditional published book is 90-110k words. Some are more and some are less.


Q: How much should I charge for my book?

A: I can’t tell you that. Look at similar books to yours, look at your word count (i.e. book length) and decide.


Q: Why did you only use Amazon when you started out?
A: Honestly? Because I never thought anyone was going to buy it. Amazon has the easiest guidelines and instructions of all of the platforms out there and if you enroll in their KDP select program, you get special benefits…but with that said, the other platforms have their benefits as well.


Q: Do you edit as you go?
A: That’s a personal style that’s different with each author. I do edit quite a lot while I write but each author has their own way of doing things.

 

Q: Can you read this synopsis/blurb/chapter and tell me what’s wrong or if it’s good enough?
A: While I am more than humbled that you value my opinion, I really am not an expert on this. Adding to that is the fact that I’m so busy as of late, I don’t have the proper time to devote to reading something as it should be and giving the proper feedback. It’s probably better if I direct you to a beta group (see question above about betas) for their responses. Thank you though.

I think that sums up the main questions I receive. I hope that helped…but if you have more questions, please feel free to email me and I can answer more specific questions when time permits.  
I’ve also heard that this book is a great resource to use on questions and other tie-bits about self publishing:  click here
 
Good luck with your writing!
Kristy

Exclusive Slow Burn Excerpt

You want a sneak peak at Slow Burn, the new Becks and Haddie book out March 2015? Check it out over on Maryse’s Page.
               Click HERE

Announcement

I am proud to announce that I have partnered with Penguin Books for a (2) Book deal. This (2) book deal will be for the titles -Slow Burn- (Becks and Haddie) and -Sweet Ache- (Quinlan’s story).
The best part about this deal is that while you guys wait for these books to be released next March and June respectively, I am allowed to self-publish in the meantime. So… I am planning on releasing a cohesive collection of the Colton POV’s that I’ve written as well as some new ones. Expect that late August/early September. I also plan on writing a novella to go back and touch on something during that 10 year gap that I left between the last chapter and the epilogue of Crashed. That will be done late December/early January.
So this means something every 3-4 months from me for the next year. See, you’re going to get sick of me
Also important in my decision to sign this deal with Penguin is their acknowledgement of how important book price is to me and my readers. I was happy with the prices proposed for Sweet Ache and Slow Burn and think you will be too when they are made available.
I know a lot of readers groan when they hear Indie authors take a traditional deal…I assure you it was a hard decision for me to make but I am confident in Penguin and am excited to partner with them in this next adventure in my writing career.

 

 

Let’s Talk Music Selections…

I get a lot of questions about my music selections for the books… how do I pick the songs, do I have a scene first and then pick the music or vice versa…well here is the answer…
I don’t have one.
Ha. Sorry. I know you guys love my non-answers, but I’ll try to explain.
Music has always been huge to me…in helping me express myself, in giving me mental silence for a bit, and in just relaxing. And it’s not just music but lyrics specifically. Of course the beat and the actual sound has to appeal to me, but if the lyrics don’t speak to me, the song will fall flat to my ears. They are so important to me that I will listen to a song over and over again just to learn all of the lyrics (and it drives my children crazy so there’s that bonus too!)
And as you can see with my playlists from the trilogy, I have a diverse taste in music. Nothing is off limits for me.
Now the first question I usually get is, “Do you listen to music when you write?” – The answer to that is YES. I listen to music, BUT the music I listen to when I write must be music that I know the words to by heart (see the explanation above). Why? Because if I don’t know the words, I find myself stopping and listening to the lyrics to really hear the music. If I do know the words, it doesn’t distract me when I’m writing. This is why I listen to a lot of cover bands when I write (i.e. Boyce Avenue or Michael Henry & Justin Robinett) because they are singing songs I already know, they are usually a mellower version, and they don’t pull my brain elsewhere. I will add the caveat though that in amped up scenes, I like to listen to something with a much harder beat…Thirty Seconds to Mars, Marianas Trench, Maroon 5, The Neighbourhood, etc…(These change all the time).
The second most asked question is, “Do you pick the song first or pick the scene first?”…It can go both ways. Sometimes I hear a song and know it fits perfectly for a ‘feeling’ I want to have for a scene but don’t always know if it is going to ‘work’ or not in said scene.
I have never specifically written a scene to fit a song. And the times I have tried, I’ve failed miserably because it’s hard to pigeon-hole yourself to a song. With that said, the one song I knew for sure I wanted to use was Pink and her ‘broken not bent’ but I figured that after I had finished Fueled and actually went back in and added it. First of all, I wanted to make sure I gave her credit for the line (which as you all know, F*ckin’ Pink, is throughout the whole series) and second, I had a feeling that the main scene I wanted to use it in (at the end of Fueled) would leave a very large impact…so I needed to make sure it stood out which is why I went back and planted it in the Pit Stop scene at the beginning of Fueled.
Now, Glitter in the Air…I never in a million years thought this song would be so relevant to the story. As you can tell, the go-to band for Rylee was Matchbox 20 but as the books evolved, so did the unexpected importance of Pink in the story…and as an author, sometimes what you plan and what happens are two different things. So I went with it. I let Colton make his “F*ckin’ Pink” comment, I let the characters play with it and then you guys, the readers, took it from there.
As for music for each book. The songs for Driven and Fueled were selected as I wrote. The choices were more than obvious for me and I entered them in the scene as I went. Crashed on the other hand was much more difficult. I’m not sure if it was the pressure of writing the book altogether but in Crashed I left a lot of *song here* in the text and went back when I was finished and decided which song would go there. And I actually went through every single song choice suggested by the thread in my VP Pit Crew as well for Crashed and did in fact select quite a few…
I will say that with each book, I kind of had a band that I listened to during the whole writing process. And they totally don’t make sense either (they are soooo random) so I don’t divulge who they are…
I hope that helps answer your questions…
Xx    Kristy

Bookaversary (re-post)

365 Days
466,785 Words

Countless Posts.
Innumerable ‘Likes’
Hundreds of ‘Tweets’

Numerous, numerous mistakes.
Endless Doubt.
Immeasurable New Friendships.

Copious amounts of trios written. (If you haven’t noticed my trios, don’t ask)
Incalculable times hitting the refresh button on Amazon dashboard reports. (hey, I know you authors did/do this too)

12,000 VP Pit Crew Members
Limitless love for this incredible community.

Four Amazon Genre Best Sellers
Two USA Today Best Sellers
One NYT Best Seller

One Complete Trilogy.
One Banned Novella (you knew I was going to throw that in there somewhere didn’t you?)

One incredibly fulfilling and overwhelmingly humbling ride of a lifetime…

It’s been one year since I sat here with bated breath and pushed publish.

One year since I worried and wondered and hoped that someone – anyone – would buy this book with a blurb that took me weeks to write. A blurb I even hired a ‘blurb doctor’ to try and help me pen (yes, there are such people)…but after a week of trying I was told there was no help for it. (ßsee, I told you, I made mistakes – I didn’t trust in myself). This book that only my mother had read and only two other people even knew I had written. So under a veil of relative anonymity in case it tanked, I published Driven…my emotive, steamy read about a damaged alpha and a heartbroken heroine.

This bookkeeper, wife, and mom of three decided to throw caution to the wind rather than double check that her seatbelt was fastened. I’d never planned on writing a book, let alone three of them. I just wanted to challenge myself and see if I could do it, fulfill that lifelong dream when all I’d been for so long was so-and-so’s Mom or so-and-so’s wife. I wanted to push publish to say that I did it was secretly hoping maybe a hundred people would buy it.

It has been one year since I picked a date – a random date. A Tuesday to be specific because I wanted to feel like a ‘real’ author, and that’s the day of the week real author’s released their books. And in a fitting and rather ironic twist, even though I pushed publish for Tuesday the 14th of May, Driven went live a day earlier than anticipated. It went live on Monday the 13th. For those of you who know me or have read the trilogy, you know this is my favorite lucky, unlucky number.

It has been one year since I embarked on this leap before you look journey where not only did people start to buy this book with the checkered flag cover, but I discovered the incredibly good hearted nature of the community around me. Selfless bloggers in it for the love of a good book, enthusiastic readers wanting to help others hear about this story they really liked and this guy named Colton. Incredible authors who have answered questions from this newbie when they could have just ignored me under the guise of my question got lost in their pile of emails. Unexpected friendships that I never anticipated but that have surrounded me with incredible love and security in this fickle industry.

In this year, I have learned so much about myself. Book sales aside, this journey that was supposed to be a hobby now turned career, has been the biggest experience of all because of what it has done to me as a person. These books – the ability to pour my heart and soul out into words in a story – have allowed me to find myself when I never even knew I was lost. They have allowed me to come into my own and have the confidence to stand behind my work with unwavering conviction. They have taught me that as long as you work hard, treat people with respect and fairly, and give it your all, you can be proud of something even when someone else doesn’t like it. It has taught me that self-confidence is the biggest present you can ever give yourself. And most importantly, it reaffirmed to never give up on your dreams…sometimes you just might accomplish them when you least expect it.

In this year I have learned that there are abuse victims wanting to heal, wanting to leave the 747 behind and use Colton’s story, his superheroes or a combination of the two to take that first step. Now that? That blows me away and makes me proud all at the same time.

In this year I have also learned that husbands REALLY like when their wives read these kinds of books. They like it so much, they write authors like me and ask for more books, more sex, and maybe a few pointers here and there on what scenes they should re-create for their spouses. Since Ferarris are not the norm, cotton candy is an easy favorite for me.

This year has been incredible, but has also been tough, I’m not going to lie. Not because of the sleepless nights or the continuous lack of hours in the day to accomplish things…but because I put my name out there. I unknowingly invited unwarranted attacks on everything that I hold dear to me. I chose to use my real name – not a pen – because I wanted to be proud of what I did…proud of what I wrote…little could I predict the actions of others because of it. I rarely speak of this and the only reason I bring this up, is to express how that one moment in time defined how proud I was to be a part of this community. I cannot speak about this incredible year without touching in general terms on the personally distressing and overwhelming events that occurred around Crashed’s release. There is an often unsteady balance in ‘book world’ of authors and bloggers – rumors, bullshit, what have you – but I have to tell you, when all of that is pushed aside and the two of them unite together and the incredible readers are added in? There is no other community in the world I am prouder to belong to and be a part of. So for that incredible, unwavering support…thank you…it still chokes me up when I think about it. I will readily admit, it was probably the hardest thing I have ever faced…to be attacked publicly…to hold my tongue and not defend the mistruths being said or address the posts/blogs/my friends being attacked simply because of their association with me…but I learned the most valuable lesson of these 365 days…Always carry your head held high and have grace in adversity because at the end of the day, respecting yourself and having dignity is ten times more important and can never be taken away from you.

This year has been incredible… a ride of a lifetime…and I owe it all to you guys…to the readers and bloggers, some of them having been here since day one. So thank you so very much…for challenging me and accepting me and welcoming me into your crazy world…for loving the voices in my head and urging me to #writeKristywrite…I am one lucky author…one who will never forget everything that you guys have given me in these 365 days…every single lesson, every self discovery, every kind word.

As a good friend said to me tonight, ‘Happy Bookaversary’ … I laughed and said, I loved the term…but you know what? My bookaversary wouldn’t be complete if you weren’t sharing it with me … because you are just as much a part of it as I am…

Thank you so very much,
Kristy Bromberg

Ps. Damn that was wordy… lol

Pre-Order UnRaveled

Want to see what all the fuss was about?  UnRaveled is up for Pre-Order right now…with a release date to your Kindles on this Sunday 5/18.  
It’s 99 cents for pre-sale and initial first days of sales..and then it will be $1.99.
Click HERE to pre-order.

Exclusive Colton’s Mother Day POV

Well, I’ve missed my Ace…and so when Shh Mom’s Reading asked for a Mother’s Day post…I wasn’t quite sure what I should do…and then I figured it out.  
Happy Mother’s Day ladies…
CLICK HERE