Heather Day Gilbert's Blog, page 17

On Being Yourself

This week, I’ve plunged into final edits for Miranda Warning. I haven’t really delved deep into this novel in months. Two words: Freaking. Out.

This may or may not involve frantic messages to my crit partner asking if I actually have the ability to write in the first place. This may or may not include a dramatic monologue to my husband about why my writing isn’t as lyrical as so-and-so’s, or as popular as so-and-so’s, and by the way, why did I think I could write in the first place?

This may or may not mean I have emailed my cover artist (my brother, bless him!) and changed direction for the cover art about ten times over the span of two months.

I confess to none of the above.

But as I was comparing my writing to so-and-so’s, both my hubby and my crit partner (bless them!) told me, in so many kind words, to knock it off. If people want to read a book by so-and-so, they’ll get that person’s book. If they want to read a book by Heather Day Gilbert, they’ll get mine.

On the topic of cover art, I kept comparing my mystery cover to regular ABA (non-Christian market) covers. They often have words and one graphic element–no faces. But I LIKE FACES. After I asked my FB readers what they like to see on covers (you might’ve been one of them!), everything was confirmed in my mind. We were going the right direction. Deep down, I know my audience and what they would like, because quite often, my audience thinks like me!

I’ve also been wrestling with whether to categorize Miranda Warning as Christian/Inspirational or not. Most of my readers know I’m a Christian. I write from a Christian worldview. But that doesn’t mean all my characters are Christians. That doesn’t mean they always do things right (um…not that  Christians do, either!). From the very start, I’ve always wanted my books to reach both Christian and non-Christian readers (yeah, I’m one of those weird “crossover” authors). BUT if I put it in the Christian category on Amazon, it might limit it.

And yet, if I don’t put that label on there, I’m afraid it might limit me as an author. I don’t want to have to go through and scrub my book of Christian elements, and I know full well that people sometimes leave bad Amazon reviews if they perceive it’s a Christian book and you haven’t told them. Sad but true. I feel like my novel is along the lines of Jan Karon…but I see she’s got a Christian/Inspy label on her book.

In the end, for every one of these issues, I realized I have to be me. 

As an author, I tell stories. I tell different kinds of stories–thus, the historical fiction AND the contemporary mystery (and whatever other genre I take a notion to write). I tell them the way I like to tell them–thus (quite often), the first-person point-of-view.

And in the end, some will like them and some won’t. Much as I want to be winsome and all things to all people, I can’t. I can’t inject extra metaphors/adjectives to amp up the literary feel–that’s not me. I can’t use a cover that doesn’t catch my eye. I can’t scrub my books of themes that are important to the story.

Authors, I just want to encourage you, like my husband and friends have encouraged me (not to mention my readers, whose thoughtful support always touches me so deeply!). Sometimes you might not look like every other writer. Sometimes you might even get not-so-hot reviews. But in the end, if you’re writing the very best books you can write, you’ve accomplished something wonderful.

You’ve brought new stories into the world.

–Heather

My Daughters’ Book Reviews: Shadow Hand by Anne Elisabeth Stengl

I’ve been so blessed lately to chat with author Anne Elisabeth Stengl online. She is such a creative, kind gal! And my daughters were thrilled to receive a review copy of her latest novel, Shadow Hand. EVERY one of Stengl’s covers blows me away, and this one is no exception:

My daughters, ages 13 and 11, each read and reviewed Shadow Hand. They are thrilled to support one of their favorite authors and share how her latest book has impressed them. SINCE I stringently protect my kiddos’ privacy, I’ll give them code names for the purpose of this review. My 13-yo will be “Peach” and my 11-yo will be “Midna”. Both girls love to write, so this is their grand online debut! I told them to keep the reviews short (otherwise I had a feeling we’d have about ten pages each!).

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Shadow Hand Review by Peach:

Shadow Hand is a book worth reading again. It’s 100% amazing. The plot was perfect, even to the last chapter. Stengl describes places, creatures, and characters to the point where you’d almost think them real. One thing I found more realistic was that everyone is different. Not everyone is born to be a comedian, or a poet, or a bookworm (like me).

I found all the characters likeable. Lionheart, who I’d originally liked from the beginning, is almost more enjoyable in Shadow Hand. Foxbrush, who hadn’t always been a fave, is so much more of a hero than in his previous appearances. Daylily, who I’d been wanting to know more about since Moonblood, isn’t really the unfazed girl she made herself out to be.

Even the characters that weren’t in it all the way through, like Lark, Nidawi, and Eanrin were fun. All in all, Shadow Hand is a must read to all of the fairytale lovers anywhere.

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Shadow Hand review by Midna:

From the start, readers immerse themselves into the deep world of Foxbrush–a shy young man about to marry an enthusiastic young woman. The problem is, Lady Daylily doesn’t love him, and vanishes on their wedding day. From then on it’s a fast-paced adventure to find her in the mysterious Wood, where Foxbrush teams up with his de-throned cousin Lionheart. The two set out on a mission to find the lost maiden, and are forced to battle the Wood’s strange creatures, beasts, and Fairies.

Along the way, they discover a nation-eating parasite and must brace for attack when they are split into different worlds. Meanwhile, Lady Daylily struggles not to disobey the orders of the strange man who is her master. Him being from the Wood, she doesn’t know if she can trust him… but who else is there to trust?

This book is completely satisfying, providing you with a good, long read for your weekend. The characters are so amazing because it’s like the author knows each one and describes them perfectly, entering their worlds and leaving you with a lasting impression of each. And that’s not all! Previous fans of The Tales of Goldstone Wood will be re-united with cherished characters like Prince Felix, Bard Eanrin, Imraldera, and even glimpses of the Prince of Farthestshore. Overall, it’s an amazing book that is so awesome I can’t even explain it’s wonderful contents in three paragraphs; that’s the sign of a book you must read!

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And now here’s a glimpse of Anne Elisabeth Stengl’s latest beautiful cover art. I think this might be my new fave…

Still, one of my fave covers of all time is this one, which reminds me of a certain Viking woman I know and love:

If you have MG or YA readers, I’d strongly recommend The Tales of Goldstone Wood series. You can check out Anne Elisabeth’s BEAUTIFUL blog here, where, coincidentally, there is a softcover giveaway of God’s Daughter!

Would love your comments below, as I will relay those to Peach and Midna. And many thanks to Anne Elisabeth for letting me visit her blog, and for letting the girls review Shadow Hand. I have the feeling this is the start of a glorious friendship.

Vlog Update

Hi, my friends. I felt like I hadn’t checked in via vlog recently, so wanted to let you know of a few things going on this week! Will post links to them as we go along on my FB author page here.

Release Date for MIRANDA WARNING, Audio Version of God’s Daughter, & Call Out for Early Readers

I won’t be posting regularly in upcoming weeks–time to put the pedal to the metal on these next projects:

I have set a tentative release date for my mystery, Miranda Warning…and it is:

West Virginia Day–JUNE 20, 2014

I figured this would be an appropriate day to release this contemporary mystery, since not only does Tess Spencer, our heroine, live in West Virginia, but this series is geared toward sharing modern life in this wild, wonderful state.

Now, before this release takes place, there will be another release–

The ACX (audio) version of God’s Daughter. I’m not sure the specific release date on that, but I will let you know ASAP (please sign up for the newsletter here for early updates!). Suffice it to say I’m working with my crit partner and friend, Becky Doughty of Bravehearts Audio on this project, and I am convinced there will be NO GUDRID LIKE HER GUDRID. Sorry for shouting that, but I’ve been blown away by how Becky’s voice has captured Gudrid for me, and I can’t wait to share it with you!

In the meantime, I’m still guest posting around the web and posting monthly for Novel Rocket. I hope you can check out my 2-part series on marketing/publicity for authors going up this Thursday, Feb. 20th. I asked a group of authors all kinds of nosy questions and thankfully, they were willing to share their hard-earned advice with all of us!

Call-Out for Early Readers: 

I would love early readers for Miranda Warning, who are willing to read an advanced reader copy (e-book) and prepare a review, pre-Amazon launch. If you’re excited about a contemporary Appalachian mystery with a married main character and you want to jump on board, please contact me at heatherdaygilbert (at) gmail (dot) com. I’m taking a limited number of early readers, so please contact me ASAP if you want to be first in line!

Again, for all kinds of bookish updates on audio, future books, cover art sneak peeks, and more, please be sure to sign up for my Newsletter. I’m kind of a newb at author newsletters, but I love the idea of being able to contact you personally with important news–keyword being important. I will only do a handful of newsletters per year, so as not to spam your inbox.

Exciting times ahead, folks! Thanks for keeping up with the latest developments!

My First One-Star, My First Book Signing, and My First Author Checking Account

Bad news first (or is it?). I got my first one-star review. I know most authors would say to shut up about this fact, but I feel I’ve somehow become even more legit as an author. When we write our books, we know that not everyone will like them. We can’t please everyone all the time…from storyline to writing style, we’re as different as can be and we attract different readers.

I was pretty geared-up for that eventual one-star, and now that it’s arrived, I find it sadly anticlimactic. There was no name-calling involved, no misspelled, over-exclamatory remarks…somehow I feel it could’ve been more spectacular. But I digress…the point is that I got that one-star, and I’m good with it. I’m sure I’ll get more. I’ve worked so hard to get here, I’m not about to let some one-stars deter me.

How do you move on past this, you might ask? Some authors refuse to read one-stars in the first place. Some look at it as if the person might’ve eaten bad sushi that day. I think I’m somewhere in the middle: I read them, acknowledge that my book wasn’t for that person, and then try to focus on my other star rankings and reviews. But if you want a few laughs about thoughts that run through an author’s head upon reading a one-star, here’s a recent post on Writer Unboxed that had me chuckling.

Secondly, I had my first author signing at my hometown library–the very library in which I checked out every Agatha Christie and Daphne DuMaurier book on the shelves. Here’s a pic of me and the head librarian, who was head librarian when I was a child/teen as well. I had such an enjoyable time chatting with her about many things, including other West Virginia indie authors. And she liked my book!

Finally, my husband set up my first author checking account, so Amazon funds can go right into that instead of getting tapped into (more like tapped OUT)  in our regular account. Along a similar vein, I took out a P.O. box to maintain some semblance of online anonymity. As I explained I needed a P.O. box that I wouldn’t really use to my postmaster, I got some weird looks. I then followed it up with “I’m an author,” and that clarified EVERYTHING, as he quickly handed me the forms.

All in all, it’s been a week of firsts. The nice thing is that I was ready for all of them…ready to take those steps. Every day I’m thankful for this indie journey, thankful for you readers and supporters, and thankful to be an author.

****How about you? Any firsts happen to you lately? Hoping it’s good firsts all around! If you’re an author, how do you deal with one-stars (or rejection)?****

So You’ve Decided to Self-Publish…the Final Steps

Whew! We’ve whizzed through the basics here…from getting your manuscript ready to locking in early readers to marketing strategies, I know it’s been a whirlwind. I’m going to conclude the series with the final steps in getting your book-baby wrapped up in its tidy package and out the door.

1) I recommend a set launch date. I think I’ve mentioned this in one of the previous posts. That way your future readers (blog followers and FB followers) know exactly when to look for your book. This creates buzz…like when people camped out to catch the midnight showing of Twilight. For fun, I “released” my e-book at midnight on its launch day. So those who stayed up late could buy it, but most of my followers bought it later in the morning. Either way, it had a massive sales spike on that day. It hit three Amazon best-seller lists and was in the “Hot New Releases” category for probably a week. So it’s kind of like a coordinated Amazon “attack.”

By the way, (whispering this quietly)–you will have to publish your e-book BEFORE that launch day. I actually published mine about two days before. But I didn’t share the link until launch day, to do the coordinated attack mentioned above. You will want that time to load it up on your Kindle and make sure it looks okay. It takes at least a day (usually) for Amazon to upload changes after your initial upload is successful.

I found Smashwords to take the most time. Not only was it more difficult to load up the interior of the book (the map in mine messed up the uploads), it took more TIME for them to implement/approve changes. I’m talking about two weeks, minimum. Some people don’t run into the hangups I did, but I just want to let you know it takes longer for the approval/uploads there. Although you can upload the Nook file via Smashwords, it took at least four more weeks for my novel to get into the actual Nook store.

All this to say, if you’re planning on loading your book via Smashwords, it should go up at least two weeks before your book goes up on Amazon. This is assuming you’re doing Amazon KDP, which is what I did. As you probably know or will soon discover, if you choose Amazon Select, you can’t upload to any other distributor (like Smashwords) for a set time period (I believe it’s 90 days?). Just something to consider.

Many people use Kindle Select when they launch their books so they can utilize freebie days to get more reviews faster, then switch to KDP and other outlets when their time expires. I can see how this could be a great strategy. For me, I hate to make my Nook readers wait three months to get my book…but it is tempting and something I’ve considered.

2) Get your softcover out as soon as possible, if you’re doing one. For me, softcovers made all kinds of sense. I know people who don’t have e-readers or don’t like their e-readers. Also, softcovers are handy when you’re trying to get bookstores/museums to carry your book and they want to see it. Softcover giveaways on Goodreads are another way to get buzz going with people who are NOT your followers (yet).

My softcover wasn’t ready when we released the e-book, because softcovers require different formatting than e-books. You also want to realize that it can take up to a week to receive your proof copies…so if you make any changes, factor in another week (unless you pay uber-high next day shipping, which I did at the last-minute) to correct your errors. But I strongly recommend you get a proof copy before hitting “publish” on that CreateSpace book. It’s easy to think everything MUST be right…your eyes are bleary from checking and re-checking for typos and errors…for spacing and indents…but trust me. Almost every proof copy will vary in some way from what you expected.

For me, the first proof copy made it abundantly clear that the “off-white” pages looked more like pale yellow against my cover. I changed to white pages, fixed my line spacing (with my font, I used 1.15), changed my margins so they didn’t run so closely into the spine, fixed typos, and ordered another proof. Then I added drop caps and fixed a couple more typos before hitting publish. All in all, it took about three weeks after my e-book launch to hit “publish” on my softcover (at that point, anyone can order it on Amazon).

This time around, I’ll probably try to launch everything as simultaneously as possible, so no one will be left out in the cold. I’ll just say this requires weeks of dedicated formatting, editing, and basically stressing out. This is a good time to purchase chocolate, coffee, or any other sweet nothings for the author/editor/formatter at-large. Also, don’t expect him/her to carry on a lucid conversation until “publish” has been hit on both e-book and print books.

3) Update your Goodreads info. Make sure you have all versions of your book listed and combine them as one, if you need to. That way reviews on one version will show up on all versions.

4) Start your blog tours. This is where you’ll be so happy you had some blogposts ready to go on various aspects of your book or writing journey. Keep track of where your posts are going up and tweet/FB them to your readers. I had so many, I didn’t want to clog up the blog, so I swapped out to Pinterest. I keep a running pinterest board  with all my guest posts/interviews/giveaway info here.

One thing to remember: you are your PR person. If you submit a post and it goes up incorrectly, you need to contact that blogger and let them know. It reflects badly on you as an author if information is wrong in the post, it links to the wrong book, or any other number of things. I double-check all my blogposts pre-submission, but I’m the first to admit I’ve made errors and had to contact bloggers once the post goes live. Maybe I’m OCD that way, but we all know that what goes on the web stays on the web, and if your post has several errors, it’s not going to look good, whenever people stumble upon it.

5) Do giveaways. LOTS OF THEM. As a debut author (this series is geared toward debut self-pubbers), it’s on you to get your name out as much as possible (unless you hired a publicity firm). One easy and fun way to do this is to offer free copies of your e-book or signed softcovers. Usually, you can offer them with your blog tour posts–one free copy  to a commenter (or some bloggers use Rafflecopter). Many people will show interest in your book, but if you can get your book in their hands, you can lock in readers who will be loyal to you as an author and spread the word.

6) Think about doing an audio version of your novel. I haven’t really announced this publicly, but there is an audio version of God’s Daughter in the works. I can’t tell you how thrilling it is to hear your words read by someone. I’ll be keeping you updated here on my blog and will give more details later…but I’m going through ACX, which is Amazon’s audio company. The amazing benefit of being self-published is that you get to choose your reader. I don’t think traditionally published authors have this option.

There are two ways of paying for your ACX recording: royalty option, where you and the reader split the income 50/50, and pay-per-hour option, in which the author pays up-front and royalties are broken up differently. You can get all the details on the ACX site I linked to above.

7) Market your book, but start working on your next one. This is where it gets tricky. God’s Daughter has been out for three months now, and I’m still guest blogging and marketing it. I keep trying to pull back, and then I think of some other avenue I need to explore. However, I’m in-the-works on publication of my next book (it was written/edited in early 2013), as well. I’m hoping to release that this spring or summer.

Basically, as a self-pubbed author, you can ride on that debut novel high for a while, but you will need to get back to work…and your work is writing.

****Okay! I think that sums up most of the self-publication process in a nutshell. I would love to have your thoughts on things today. KDP or Select? Smashwords or no? Do you listen to Audiobooks? How do you balance marketing and writing? I’d love to end this series with YOUR thoughts on self-publishing!****

NEW Hashtag for Christian Indie Authors! #Christindie!

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Just wanted to share a new tag with all you Christian self-published or hybrid authors: #Christindie. Our Christian indie group decided we need a tag to share relevant self-publishing updates, links, and just have a place to congregate on twitter! Hope you can start using it to share all your self-pub news!

 

–Heather

So You’ve Decided to Self-Publish…The Third Steps (Building Buzz)

My critique partner, Becky Doughty, and I, as we geared up for GOD’S DAUGHTER launch week

(Disclaimer: What worked for me MIGHT NOT BE YOUR CUP OF TEA! So don’t take this as the only way to go about things. The purpose of this series is to encourage indie/hybrid authors with ideas of how to launch your debut self-published novel. If you disagree, I totally understand. The beauty of self-publishing is that you can do it your own way and learn on the job.)

So…if you’re following the steps I’ve outlined so far, you have an edited draft of your MS (manuscript) ready…you’ve got the working cover art and blurb…you’ve listed your book on Goodreads…and you’ve gotten the MS out to early readers for endorsements and/or reviews.

I think the next crucial steps, in those (maybe) two months you’re waiting for early reader feedback/endorsements, is to build buzz.

This means marketing. You might not like marketing. Most authors don’t. I just happen to get a kick out of it. Formatting gives me much more angst than marketing. We’re each drawn to different aspects of writer-dom. If you hate marketing so much you feel yourself getting depressed just contemplating it, and if you have money to outsource it, by all means, please do. If I’m ever able to outsource my formatting, I probably will because it drives me nutso.

I’ll share a few marketing strategies I used and the relative success of each one.

1) Design pinnables with select quotes from your book. For this, I used PicMonkey to edit free pics, like from Morguefile. You can see my God’s Daughter pinnable ”gallery” here. I do think this campaign was a relative success, as many people did pin them and get excited about the book. The longhouse quote below was a favorite.

It’s tricky, because you don’t know who’s saying what, in what context…but for me, it was a way to highlight my writing style. I also made sure to include the title, genre, and release date on each one, so people who glanced at the pic would know what it was advertising.

2) Share the first chapters of your book. I put this off until about two weeks pre-launch day. After much finagling and bugging fellow authors about it, I figured out how to upload to Scribd. This is where it is IMPERATIVE that your first chaps are as edited as you can get them, because people will be sampling your writing/grammar/presentation through this sample. You can check mine out here. Scribd is wonderful because it lets you embed a code on your site and then you get that totally epic box that scrolls down. Now, this was NOT my final layout for the book, but close to it. The good thing is, you can also update Scribd. So as my endorsements came in, I was able to plug those in and reload.

As for success rate, I got a lot of hits right off the bat, but things did slow down once the book released–probably because those first sample chapters can be downloaded for free on Kindle. But the Scribd sample still gets hits, and it’s a great way to give possible readers a taste of the book, directly on your website.

3) Do a Facebook photo campaign. I saw traditionally published authors doing this, with great success. But you need a tie-in with your book. For one campaign, the readers held teacups and dressed for tea. For mine, I asked readers to hold their favorite Bibles, since my main character doesn’t HAVE a Bible. I wanted to increase appreciation for our easy access to Bibles, as well as give people a chance to share their fave Bible stories. You can see that gallery here on Pinterest (I posted pics to my Facebook author page, and then to a Pinterest board). I didn’t get as much participation as I’d hoped, but the pictures were wonderful and the stories were GREAT. So I consider it a success!

4) Prepare guest posts. Depending on the blogger, you might be answering interview questions or concocting your own blogposts on various angles on your book/writing journey. By the end of about six months, you’ll be sick of your story and explaining why you wrote it. But it’s not all in vain. For each blog you visit, there are readers who have not yet heard your story/heard about your book. I do recommend asking for interview questions, whenever possible. It takes the load off you, so you can focus on your launch. I have a personal policy to try to knock out guest interviews/blogposts as soon as possible after I receive them. That way, things don’t fall through the cracks.

5) Do a vlog or some blogposts leading up to it. I always find vlogs an excellent way to connect with readers. I was blessed to have my crit partner (and friend!), Becky Doughty, visit the week of my book release. Becky spent hours formatting for me and showing me how to format (kind of like “teach a man to fish, feed him for life…”). I can NEVER repay her for that. We also took goofy pictures in our sleep-deprived state and fueled ourselves with black coffee…but we were able to vlog before Becky had to take off for the West Coast. Even though my computer camera left much to be desired, it was great to just capture the excitement we both felt for this release on a vlogpost. You can view that here.

Remember, these are just things I did to gear up for launch. I’d love it if you share your buzz-building steps and ideas below!

Live Radio Interview Link

I was so thrilled to do my first LIVE radio interview today! Hope you can listen in as Giovanni Gelati and I talk about Vikings, video games, and everything in-between!

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/gelatisscoop/2014/01/21/heather-day-gilbert-author-of-gods-daughter-vikings-of-the-new-world-saga

So You’ve Decided to Self-Publish…The Second Step (Early Readers)

I’m only going to talk about one step today–early readers–because I feel it’s such an important step for the debut author (and helpful for any author). Quick recap: last week we made sure your novel:

1) Was properly edited. This includes: beta readers, crit partners, professional edits, and self-edits. (To clarify: I consider beta readers a handful of early readers who look for content/character problems–readers you KNOW are in your book demographic). Critique partners can edit for content and/or grammar problems, depending on your primary need. It’s good to have one solid crit partner whose opinion you trust implicitly when it comes to understanding your writing voice and the reason for your stories).

2) Has a kickin’ title and Amazon blurb, and has cover art locked in place.

Once you have polished these elements till they shine, you’re ready to get an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) out to your early readers. This is a traditional publishing term, but it makes sense to me. It’s basically your book, as good as YOU can get it.

Now it’s time to:

1) Compile a list of early readers. This list can be as long or as short as you want. I will say that it’s always better to gather too many names than too few, because this means more potential endorsements and/or influencers. I approached those who had expressed interest in Viking history–specifically, fellow authors or experts in the Viking field, because I was hoping for endorsement quotes for my debut novel. For instance, if you amass thirty early reader names, you should understand that possibly only twenty will get back to you and have time to read it pre-publication.

2) Convert your book file into something readers can see on their e-readers. Before you do this, make sure your cover art is inserted onto the first page. It is helpful if your early readers have access to an e-reader, though it is possible to send your book as a .pdf attachment in your e-mail (.pdf is preferable to Word, for copyright protection purposes). You can upload files via the Kindle conversion process; a mobifile converter (which didn’t QUITE work right for me) or a .pdf file. I attached .pdf and an e-book ready file to my early readers, so they had options.

3) Plan to send your book to early readers at least 2-3 months before your release date. And give THEM a date to respond to you with endorsements. I didn’t do this the first time. I just sent out my mass e-mail with the book attached and sat by my computer, convinced I’d hear back from everyone that week…nope, didn’t work that way (although some readers were really fast!). Turns out, people are pretty busy, and authors really have to carve time into their schedules to read for you (which makes them doubly blessed!). I actually had authors ask ME for a respond-by date. So be sure to include a respond-by date in that initial e-mail.

I also tried to make it really clear that if early readers didn’t like the book, not to worry about it. I’m not going to pressure people to read/review something that’s not up their alley. Early readers actually helped me narrow down my demographic by their responses to the novel.

You can word your mass e-mail however you want, but I think friendliness and appreciation shines through, instead of a brusque business letter approach. Some authors actually create a Facebook group for early readers, where they can discuss the book. Some call early readers a “Street Team.” Doesn’t matter how you phrase it, but they’re crucial for a debut author. I’ll explain why in the next point…

4) Those early reader reviews will be the first ones to go up on Goodreads and Amazon…and the first reviews don’t budge. They show up on the screen every time someone pulls up your book. So you want to showcase the reviews of readers you trust. You can be sure your early reader’s reviews will be thoughtful, if not all five-stars. Forget five-stars. It just matters that they read your book all the way through and cared enough to write something that will help steer curious new readers. Getting a few Goodreads reviews up pre-release increases your visibility and makes it easier for authors to transfer reviews to Amazon when you launch.

5) As the endorsements and reviews trickle in, collect your author endorsements in a file. Be sure to copy/paste them to the “Editorial Reviews” section on Amazon WHEN you hit PUBLISH. You can’t do it before then. I tried. You can also copy/paste them right into those first pages of your book (“Praise for ______________”), or revise the back cover art on a softcover book to include author quotes you want to highlight.

***WHEW! I feel like we covered a lot, and I’m probably leaving out some details. Do you have any questions or ideas as related to “Early Readers,” “Street Teams,” “Viking hordes,” or whatever term you want to use to designate those helpful early readers?***