Greg Strandberg's Blog, page 12
February 25, 2014
FaceBook Ads Today
I'm doing an ad campaign for my epic fantasy book, The Hirelings.
https://www.facebook.com/TheHirelings
I'd really appreciate it if anyone could like this page, or tell someone that likes fantasy novels.
This novel is rather unconventional in that it's quite humorous, but also dark. Take a look and see if it's your cup of tea!
https://www.facebook.com/TheHirelings
I'd really appreciate it if anyone could like this page, or tell someone that likes fantasy novels.
This novel is rather unconventional in that it's quite humorous, but also dark. Take a look and see if it's your cup of tea!
February 24, 2014
Retrograde February
The problem with February is that Mercury is in retrograde.
What does that mean?
Well, it means the planet Mercury is moving backward through the zodiac. Anyone with an astrological sign is feeling it.
This means things will be slower, nothing will progress that will...and the big one, eBook sales could be down.
Hang in there - 4 more days 'till March and the time when this planetary disturbance ends.
What does that mean?
Well, it means the planet Mercury is moving backward through the zodiac. Anyone with an astrological sign is feeling it.
This means things will be slower, nothing will progress that will...and the big one, eBook sales could be down.
Hang in there - 4 more days 'till March and the time when this planetary disturbance ends.
February 21, 2014
Maxing Out the Blurbs
Lately I've really been filling up every available space on my fantasy book Amazon product description.
What does that mean?
You know, the blurb.
It's the little thing you read that tells you about a book, kind of like the back cover.
Well, you get thousands of words to play around with, and in different categories, like:
Description
From the Author
Reviews
About the Author
From the Back Flap
and more
The point is, you can really give potential buyers a lot to look at. Think how many aren't looking at the look inside.
But if there's something there on your main page? Oh boy, that might just do it.
I hope my longer blurbs are pushing people over the edge, but we'll have to wait and see.
What does that mean?
You know, the blurb.
It's the little thing you read that tells you about a book, kind of like the back cover.
Well, you get thousands of words to play around with, and in different categories, like:
Description
From the Author
Reviews
About the Author
From the Back Flap
and more
The point is, you can really give potential buyers a lot to look at. Think how many aren't looking at the look inside.
But if there's something there on your main page? Oh boy, that might just do it.
I hope my longer blurbs are pushing people over the edge, but we'll have to wait and see.
Sierra Games
You don't often hear about old Sierra computer games anymore.
Those were great adventure stories from the 80s and 90s.
I'm sure a lot of my storytelling ability came from typing in sentences, or commands, in those games.
What am I talking about?
King's Quest
Space Quest
Quest for Glory
Police Quest
and Leisure Suit Larry
Classic games you can still play today.
Those were great adventure stories from the 80s and 90s.
I'm sure a lot of my storytelling ability came from typing in sentences, or commands, in those games.
What am I talking about?
King's Quest
Space Quest
Quest for Glory
Police Quest
and Leisure Suit Larry
Classic games you can still play today.
February 6, 2014
G.I. Joe and Amazon
I'm so excited about the news that Amazon Kindle Worlds is going to allow writers to write G.I. JOE stories.
I really liked these action figures when I was growing up, and watched quite a few of the cartoons as well.
It should be fun writing about these characters, and I'm focusing on the dreadnoks, some of the bad guys.
I wrote a big post (2,200 words) about it today on my website and I sure hope fans are interested.
I really liked these action figures when I was growing up, and watched quite a few of the cartoons as well.
It should be fun writing about these characters, and I'm focusing on the dreadnoks, some of the bad guys.
I wrote a big post (2,200 words) about it today on my website and I sure hope fans are interested.
February 4, 2014
New ESL Book
I finished and published my 5th ESL book today, which makes me quite the authority on the subject, or at least I'd like to think.
This book is about 25 different English as a Second Language (ESL) PowerPoints that teachers can use in class.
I used all of them myself when I was a teacher and sell them all on my ESL website, www.esladventure.com.
I've got plans to put out a shorter, 5,000 word ESL book next week and that one I'll try to get perma-free for and use as a loss-leader.
Overall pretty good for a book I had an idea for last week and got a cover for a few days ago.
Mainly I had lots of old blog posts about these PPTs so it was easy to put this together.
So that's 26 books now.
This book is about 25 different English as a Second Language (ESL) PowerPoints that teachers can use in class.
I used all of them myself when I was a teacher and sell them all on my ESL website, www.esladventure.com.
I've got plans to put out a shorter, 5,000 word ESL book next week and that one I'll try to get perma-free for and use as a loss-leader.
Overall pretty good for a book I had an idea for last week and got a cover for a few days ago.
Mainly I had lots of old blog posts about these PPTs so it was easy to put this together.
So that's 26 books now.
February 2, 2014
Writing Reviews
I've been writing more reviews on Goodreads lately.
Usually I'll write a few at a time, and I notice my star rating changes.
What I mean by this is that I'll give a book a higher rating usually.
See, when you look through lists of books you'll assign 3 stars pretty fast.
When you sit down to write out 150 words or so you'll often remember the book wasn't that bad.
As a result a book gets a higher rating.
I'd try this with some of the books you have in your list.
Now, I started to write reviews hoping others on Goodreads would notice me and look at my own books.
Has it worked? Not really.
Usually I'll write a few at a time, and I notice my star rating changes.
What I mean by this is that I'll give a book a higher rating usually.
See, when you look through lists of books you'll assign 3 stars pretty fast.
When you sit down to write out 150 words or so you'll often remember the book wasn't that bad.
As a result a book gets a higher rating.
I'd try this with some of the books you have in your list.
Now, I started to write reviews hoping others on Goodreads would notice me and look at my own books.
Has it worked? Not really.
February 1, 2014
February
I had a really good month writing last month, pumping out 118,000 words and 3 new books.
You can read all about it on my website, where I always do a monthly report to get things started off fresh.
Honestly, I've been moping about for the past few days since putting out my last book.
I tend to get PPD - Post-Publishing Depression and it's hard to get started again on other projects.
I'm just not too thrilled about anything I'm working on right now.
Usually when this happens I'll play computer games for a few hours, something I do maybe once every 2 months now. Maybe I'll read too.
I started reading The Dark Tower again a few nights ago just because it's one of the few books I have.
I got it in a thrift shop along with the second one after moving back from China. I had to leave most of my books there and then one box got lost on the move back.
Well, at least I got some words written now, huh?
You can read all about it on my website, where I always do a monthly report to get things started off fresh.
Honestly, I've been moping about for the past few days since putting out my last book.
I tend to get PPD - Post-Publishing Depression and it's hard to get started again on other projects.
I'm just not too thrilled about anything I'm working on right now.
Usually when this happens I'll play computer games for a few hours, something I do maybe once every 2 months now. Maybe I'll read too.
I started reading The Dark Tower again a few nights ago just because it's one of the few books I have.
I got it in a thrift shop along with the second one after moving back from China. I had to leave most of my books there and then one box got lost on the move back.
Well, at least I got some words written now, huh?
January 30, 2014
The Open Gym
Tonight was Thursday night so I took my son up to the Open Gym at the YMCA.
When we got there they had the gym segmented off into two-halves.
One side had dodgeball, and the other side had basketball. Plus all the big kids were jumping in the castle bouncy house.
Overall, not good.
So we ran up and down the ramp by the climbing wall room. That's pretty easy because I just have to stand there.
I was also lucky enough to have Paul run around by himself when they finally got done with dodgeball. That meant I could sit down and read the paper for a few minutes.
When we got there they had the gym segmented off into two-halves.
One side had dodgeball, and the other side had basketball. Plus all the big kids were jumping in the castle bouncy house.
Overall, not good.
So we ran up and down the ramp by the climbing wall room. That's pretty easy because I just have to stand there.
I was also lucky enough to have Paul run around by himself when they finally got done with dodgeball. That meant I could sit down and read the paper for a few minutes.
January 28, 2014
New Fantasy Book - The Hirelings
I published a new novel today, my oh, let's see here...I guess it's my 10th novel and my 25th eBook overall.
This one follows a group of fantasy mercenaries called Hirelings.
They're led by a dwarf named Beldar and the party includes barbarians, an elven ranger, a human spellcaster, and an elven thief. There are also some human fighters with cameos.
Lots of monsters are also represented, including a dragon, stone giants, steampunk, wizards, drunken dwarves, king's guards, and lots of other stuff.
Anyways, I'm tired, I finished it today, and it's just selling on Amazon now.
Will there be a few typos in the book? You betcha!
Download your copy today so you can point them out to me. Fun, huh?
http://amzn.to/1gmbh8Q
This one follows a group of fantasy mercenaries called Hirelings.
They're led by a dwarf named Beldar and the party includes barbarians, an elven ranger, a human spellcaster, and an elven thief. There are also some human fighters with cameos.
Lots of monsters are also represented, including a dragon, stone giants, steampunk, wizards, drunken dwarves, king's guards, and lots of other stuff.
Anyways, I'm tired, I finished it today, and it's just selling on Amazon now.
Will there be a few typos in the book? You betcha!
Download your copy today so you can point them out to me. Fun, huh?
http://amzn.to/1gmbh8Q
