Jacob C. Stroud's Blog, page 2

Thoughts about real life as an aspiring writer, Part 1

Before I wrote my first book I thought that it would be easy. Somehow I had it in my head that I could quickly become a successful writer and be able to have a steady stream of extra income. Looking back now, I laugh and wonder how in the world could I have thought that writing would be easy or instantly successful. My experience with writing has been rewarding and has been a lot fun.
In each part of this blog post series I will share some of my experiences, thoughts and lessons learned.
One lesson I learned along the way:

Know you limitations and push them - In my day job I am used to making software work. Both purchased software and programs I have written myself usually will eventually submit to my will and do what I need them to do. I knew I wasn't the best at the graphical side of things and I thought that I might have a little trouble with getting the images to look just right. I really had no idea how tricky it would be. My easy solution was to have someone do all of the images and split any profits from book sales with them. When this didn't work out I decided I would do the illustrations. I tried, but I don't have much skill at free hand drawing so my next idea was to try to use image manipulation software to alter photographs to make them look more like children's picture book illustrations. From here I started looking into the different software programs available and quickly realized the I was cheap and most image manipulation software is not. A friend recommended that I try a very affordable , aka free, called GIMP. This was exactly what I needed to finish turning high quality amateur photographs into the illustrations for my first children's book, Teddy Visits Mitchell Farms. Now I am almost ready to really start the process of taking a second book in the Adventures of Teddy series from first draft to published. This time I think I might push though my cheapness and hire a real artist to draw or paint the illustrations.Quick Tip:If you plan to put photographs in a book make sure the orientation matches the book format, before you finish taking all of them. Otherwise be prepare to do a lot of cropping.The next part in the series will be "About Time"

Continued Effort to Put #morecontent On My Blog

Yesterday I posted that I would try to post more in an effort to increase my reach on the web. I also sent a couple of tweets out today. It looks like my efforts might be paying off. Yesterday's blog post had several views. This made me think, If I had not posted the blog post, it would not had any views.  It might sound funny or even corny but it is true.
Today's post will include #morecontent.(You might have noticed that I'm trying to emphasize the #morecontent hashtag)
Today's Fun Fact:
I was born in Sidney Montana. But I was raised in and currently live in south Mississippi.
Today's Writing Tip:I have read other tips about not editing as you go when writing a first draft, but I want to take this a step further. If you have a story in your, head start writing it down! If you self-edit yourself so much that you decide your story is not good enough to put into writing, then you have might just kill what could be a good story that others might enjoy. If you don't try you will never know.
Follow me on Amazon and Goodreads!http://amazon.com/author/jacobcstroud
https://www.goodreads.com/jacobcstroud     

Test Test Test, Can Anyone Hear Me?

I've had this blog, my Twitter account, and Facebook page going for a while now and the number of visitors, likes, and follows are still low. Also the number of book sales is low and number of Kindle version sales and number of reviews are both 0. I'm beginning to wonder if the only way to get likes, followers, and visits its to buy advertising.

I'm cheap and I try not to give up too easily so I'm going to try to create more content. Will more posts and tweets get more people's attention? We shall see! What about #hashtags, do they work, even outside of Twitter and Facebook? 
Question of the day: How many writers do you know of that are also a computer programmer? Hint: at least one. Please reply in the comments section.
Quote of the day:
"You can only get out what you put in." - Jacob C. Stroud, author of Teddy Visits Mitchell Farms

Cross linking:Http://Facebook.com/jacobcstroudauthorHttp://Twitter.com/jacobcstroud

Writing from the other side of the country

I'm in the lovely city of Sacramento, CA for some training related to my day job. This is my first trip to California and definitely not where I am used to writing from. Normally I'm writing form where I feel most at home, in south Mississippi.

Last night I was almost asleep when I had a children's new story come to me. I reached over and turned on the lamp and scribbled down the basic idea on a "thought pad" that was on the night stand. Tonight I finished the first draft of a new Teddy story that I have been working on. I also wrote down another book concept that I thought of and a start to an adventure novel with a twist. I guess I can say this has been a productive trip so far for both my day job and my writing.

Good night from Sacramento.

Giving Goodreads Giveaways a Go

Have you ever entered a Goodreads Giveaway? I haven't. I just finished creating a giveaway for one signed copy of Teddy Visits Mitchell Farms and hopefully it drums up some attention and maybe even some sales. My givaway is open to USA, Great Britain, Canada, and Australia and if it is approved it will run from 4/6 to 4/10. I kinda hope someone far away wins it, sure the shipping will be more but it would also mean that someone who otherwise might have never seen the book will read it. 

If you would like to comment about you experiences with Goodreads Giveaways, please feel free to do so.




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Goodreads Book Giveaway Teddy Visits Mitchell Farms by Jacob C. Stroud Giveaway ends April 10, 2015.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads. Enter to win

Will people buy a Kindle children's picture book?

I have had my first children's picture ebook available on Kindle since the start of December but haven't sold even one copy. I'm not trying to complain, just stating the problem. In this series of blog posts I will attempt to find a solution.

When I first listed my book on Kindle, I priced it at $6.50. This was $5 below the printed version price. The price remained this way until the start of March. At the beginning of March I added Matchbook and dropped the price to $2.99. Matchbook is Amazon's way of letting someone who has purchased the printed version have the Kindle version for a reduced price or free. I chose the free option. To promote this I tweeted about it with the hashtag #IARGT. Still no takers.

As part of trying to better understand how to reach readers,i would appreciate any feedback you have and how you found this. Regardless of how you came across this blog series, please like, share, forward, or just tell some people. Let's see if we can take the Kindle book sales from zero to one-million!

Oh yeah, the link to purchase my first Kindle children's picture book, Teddy Visits Mitchell Farms, is
 http://www.amazon.com/Teddy-Visits-Mitchell-Farms-ebook/dp/B00QNAFDXA 

Thanks!

Teddy Visits Mitchell Farms on Amazon

Teddy Visits Mitchell Farms is fully available in print and Kindle on Amazon.com, Here!

Jacob C. Stroud goes global! Ok only partially global

I just finished setting my Amazon Author Central pages for

Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Germany):
http://www.amazon.de/Jacob C. Stroud/e/B00M5SP55A

République française (France):
http://www.amazon.fr/Jacob C. Stroud/e/B00M5SP55A

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK):
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jacob C. Stroud/e/B00M5SP55A

日本国 (Japan)
http://www.amazon.co.jp/Jacob C. Stroud/e/B00M5SP55A


And just for reference, the US version can be found at:
http://www.amazon.com/author/jacobcstroud


I am also still on
Twitter http://www.twitter.com/jacobcstroud
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/jacobcstroudauthor
Instagram http://www.instagram.com/jacobcstroudauthor
Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/jacobcstroud

It's late (2:06 AM 12/07/2014. I'm exhausted. I think I will go to bed now.

Kindle Version of Teddy Visits Mitchell Farms and mini-interview feature

I just finished submitting the Kindle version of Teddy Visits Mitchell Farms! As soon as it has finsihed being reviewed it will be available for sale through Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QNAFDXA Earlier today a mini-interview I did with A. Renee Hunt was featured on her blog,mini-intervew blog post. I am still waiting for the CreateSpace proof of the paperback edition to arrive in the mail.

Kindle Version of Teddy Vistits Mitchell Farms and mini-interview feature

I just finished submitting the Kindle version of Teddy Visits Mitchell Farms! As soon as it has finsihed being reviewed it will be available for sale through Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QNAFDXA Earlier today a mini-interview I did with A. Renee Hunt was featured on her blog,mini-intervew blog post. I am still waiting for the CreateSpace proof of the paperback edition to arrive in the mail.