Roisin Black's Blog, page 6

Amazon.com Sales Rank—How Does it Work? (Research-Based)

Roisin Black:

An interesting piece on Amazon Sales Rank.

Originally posted on chrismcmullen:

INTRODUCTION

How does Amazon sales rank work? Specifically, what factors affect the sales rank of books (or other products) at Amazon.com?

These questions will be answered in this article—as the result of years of research on this topic.

It’s easy to perform controlled experiments on Amazon.com sales rank. Here is the kind of research that went into the preparation of this article:

I’ve purchased hundreds of books, e-books, and other products over the course of several years on Amazon, both directly from Amazon and through third-party sellers on Amazon. It’s easy to monitor the sales rank before and after each purchase.
I’ve studied years of sales rank data for dozens of books that I’ve published. I’ve compared this data to royalty reporting and Nielsen Bookscan data from Author Central.
Since 2008, there have been cases where I was able to make firsthand observations of purchases on Amazon, in which case…

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The Candle In The Window

Well here I am facing into my third Australian Christmas and I have to admit to not being altogether thrilled about it.  It’s one thing when you sign on for the big adventure, when you agree to up sticks and travel to the other side of the world and in the bigger scheme of things you are fine and enjoy all that your new place of abode has to throw at you.  However, hiding in the seams of the bigger scheme are those times when you just can’t get your head around where you are.  Christmas in Australia is one of those times for me.  The Aussies love their summer Christmas  – as they should but for me it’s just not Christmas.

The Snowmen Are A Little Different In Australia

Christmas for me is so many things.  It’s about home, open fires, over the top decorations, seeing family and spending time with friends, wrapping up against the cold, walks in frosty forests or on wind-swept beaches, sharing wonderful food, having a few drinks in the local pub, impromptu sing-songs, fun and laughter.  The west of Ireland is an incredibly special place to be at Christmas time.  Decimated by emigration over the years it is a time when people come home and it is this that creates an amazing buzz.  People are happy to be home and those who are at home are ecstatic to have their family members back even if it is for only a few short weeks.  Christmas Eve in any of the west of Ireland towns is a day for last minute presents, picking up “the bird” and joining the old friend you just ran in to for a drink or two.

A Few Hot Jimmies Will Put You Right

Later on in the evening most people make their way home and their journey is lit by candles twinkling in the windows of all the houses.  This is a tradition that dates back to ancient times and is rooted in the old Brehon laws of hospitality – whereby a stranger knocking on the door must never be refused.  In later times it was understood to symbolise the lighting of the way for Mary and Joseph as they searched for somewhere to stay before the birth of their child.  Nowadays it is seen as lighting the way for Mary and Joseph but also for those who are returning home.

The Candle In The Window

One of my favourite things to do on Christmas Eve is to stand, in the darkness, at the window of my parents house, high up on the hill, and look out across the island as it twinkles in the night.  It’s a beautiful sight and one I’m looking forward to seeing again, just unfortunately not tonight.

Wherever you are this Christmas I hope you enjoy it – Roisin.

Writing Sex Scenes In A Post Fifty Shades Of Grey World

My journey to being a published author has been a long and colourful one and many manuscripts were consigned to the trash box along the way.  Most of them consisted of stories for children, fantasy and crime fiction.  None of them featured any major sex scenes and since my dreams for international novel- writing stardom mostly consisted of crime fiction, then I thought coming up with interesting and engaging sex scenes wasn’t something I was going to have to worry about.  So it came as something of a surprise to me, when I finally decided on self-publishing, that my first three stories all slotted into the romance genre. And each one of them very much involves sex!  Remember Me, in particular, has sex as being central to its storyline with Flynn Murphy presenting himself as bait to Annabel Smith, a woman who uses sex as a weapon.  More than one friend messaged me whilst reading it to let me know how much  it made them blush!

Remember Me Book Cover

Now, don’t go getting your panties all in a twist – it’s not THAT explicit and it doesn’t flirt with Erotica or BDSM – even though I’m sure Flynn wouldn’t have minded landing a few spanks on Miss Smith’s perfect buttocks.  However, it does have quite a sex scene in it – with two characters like Flynn and Annabel – how could it not and I have to admit to a blush or two when I wrote it.

This is the thing about writing sex scenes, they push you outside of your comfort zone and the problem with writing a sex scene in a post Fifty Shades Of Grey world is that the standard, run of the mill, sex scene just doesn’t cut it any more. The euphemistic Mills & Boon type scenes of throbbing excitement (erect penis) and crashing waves (female orgasm) are gone the way of the dinosaur. Just look at this for a book cover from Mills and Boon! Judging by our heroines hairstyle and sexy as all hell jumpsuit I’m guessing this was published sometime in the eighties.  Our hero is, after all, showing some skin, which would have been considered somewhat avant-garde at the time.

Old Style Cover For Mills & Boon

Writers have a choice in a post FSOG world – write  a sex scene and be red-cheeked or avoid the issue altogether.  With sex being so crucial to the storyline of Remember Me, I felt I would be cheating my readers if I baulked at putting an authentic sexual encounter in the book.

I read a great book earlier this year where the young heroine dreamed of making love with the object of her affections, (who she ended up with in the story and they went on to live happily ever after, despite the horrific effects that war had wrought upon him).  Her fantasies about the two of them being together had formed a crucial part of the storyline and yet the author never included even their first time together.  I felt very much cheated and didn’t want my readers feeling the same way after reading one of my stories.

The problem was that here I was faced with crafting a sex scene in a post Fifty Shades Of Grey world. Now, I might be wrong but I feel the ante has very definitely been upped when it comes to your average sex scene.  Perhaps I’ve lead something of a sheltered reading life but it’s not so long ago oral sex was a taboo subject, never mind a man performing oral sex on a woman!  Shocker!  Nowadays, oral sex is just part of the picture and light bondage is even entering the mainstream.

Whereas I’m not a massive fan of FSOG myself, (I have issues with it from many perspectives) it has definitely brought erotica into mainstream fiction and legitimized female sexual desire like no other piece of published work before it.  There has been an explosion in erotic literature since and it seems the average female reader can’t get enough of the stuff!  Which brings me back to my dilemma – when writing my story – in which the two main characters engage in sexual relations –  I considered sparing my blushes and going with a standard, run of the mill sex scene.  Will this keep my readers happy I wondered?  Or should I introduce more risqué or even controversial aspects?  Hmmmm….. what’s a girl to do I thought?

Covers For The Fifty Shades Trilogy

At the end of the day, with Remember Me, I let the characters decide.  I just went with what I felt was right between them and appropriate for the story.  Flynn might be a man intent on revenge but he’s not a tortured soul like Christian Grey and so many of the leading male characters featured in the other erotic blockbusters.  And Annabel Smith certainly isn’t anything like Anastasia Steele!  God only knows what she’d do to Christian Grey if he took her into The Red Room.  Now there’s an enticing prospect!

Annabel Smith & Her Infamous Red Panties!

Fabulous Book Trailer for Remember Me!

I’ve been a tad jealous of all these book trailers knocking around the web and various social media sites.  I said, “I gotta get me one of those!” and so I did.  Checkout the trailer for Remember Me by clicking on the link below

Blog Tour

Day three of the blog tour for Remember Me and here is where you’ll find me today!

http://www.acauldronofbooks.info/

I’ve also been selected for Cover Wars on the masquerade crew blog so go vote for the cover of Remember Me.  Just click on the link.

http://masqueradecrew.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/december-cover-wars-part-2-vote-for.html

Remember Me Book Cover

Commitments, Contingencies and Coping With The Unexpected

It’s one thing to commit to a blog. It’s another thing entirely to find the time to actually write it!  When I committed to this blog a number of months ago I had a long hard think about whether or not it was a good idea to even start it if I was never going to have the time to attend to it.  I looked at all the commitments I have, sized up where I could adjust my schedule, allowed for contingencies and decided I could manage it. My aim each week is to have a post up by the weekend and failing that at least by Sunday morning at the very latest.  So far I’ve been doing ok…… until last week and the week before that…….  And here is the problem – when it came to allowing for contingencies I couldn’t have imagined a total crash of my computer system or, just the week after that catastrophic event, the arrival of a super-storm!  I had been thinking along the lines of sick kids, school holidays and unexpected visitors.  Obviously I need to up my contingencies game.  So, note to self – when it comes to planning contingencies in the future perhaps I should plan for bigger contingencies than most.  Mind you, contingencies don’t come much bigger than the super-storm that hit Brisbane last Thursday!

The Beast

Two storm cells came together and formed The Beast – A Supercell Thunderstorm that unleashed hell on Brisbane in just over an hour.   One minute I was out the back of the house in blazing sunshine and sweating my tooshie off and the next I was looking out my front door, with my jaw on the floor.  “Oh dear,” I whispered as I stared at the sky with cold blasts of air rushing over me, “what’s this?”

Within seconds, a strange cracking sound started, then a blast of thunder exploded over the house. The sky was totally dark by now and it was as if night had descended upon us but not for long as sheets of lightning lit up the landscape.  And then they came – golf ball sized hail stones catapulted out of the sky and pummelled everything around them.  The noise was deafening.

One of The Lumps of Ice That Hit Brisbane During the Super-Storm

Now, it should be said I’m from an island on the west coast of Ireland and am no stranger to the fury of mother nature.  Storms on Achill are brutal and fierce and I’ve experienced some of the worst. However, in all my days, I have never seen hail stones the size of golf balls!  And we were lucky, as the storm intensified, hail the size of tennis balls fell in other parts of the city and how it fell!

An Ice-pile

It rained down mercilessly, like God was emptying his Eski (local slang for cooler box.)  Nothing was safe and the damage has been extensive.

Hail Damaged Car

Cars in particular were badly damaged.

A Lot of Cars In Brisbane Look Like This At The Moment

Many houses had their windows smashed and the office blocks of the CBD (Central Business District) also suffered.

Beat Up Ofice Building In Brisbane CBD

Many people took shelter in the CBD only to find themselves being showered by hailstones and glass!

At about 5pm this is how Brisbane CBD looked.

The Beast

Now if that’s not apocalyptic looking, then I don’t know what is!

As the hail abated the wind intensified and ripped through the city tearing up trees and taking roofs with it as it went.

Bye Bye Roof

Bye Bye UTE

Back in our part of town the hail had thankfully turned to rain and it was sheeting down.  Things were starting to look a little more like a “normal” storm.  Of course, power outtages and internet blackouts followed and so yours truly had to abandon all plans for posting on a Friday – again!
However, having seen all the post-storm damage I’m incredibly grateful that we came out of it totally unscathed and that nobody was killed.  I may have had to postpone a post till today but it’s not every day you get to write about having been in a superstorm.  Ah life in sub-tropical Australia – everything is bigger here – especially life’s little contingencies.

Peeling Potatoes

It’s been a hectic and frustrating eight days since I last posted – compounded by a complete, total and utter computer crash.  Therefore, I don’t have the usual amount of time to craft a post as I have a backlog of stuff I need to finish – primarily author interviews and guest posts for my upcoming blog tour for Remember Me.  Exciting!

Usually when I get myself tied up in knots with frustration, I go for a long walk on the beach or a hike. However, with the temperature and humidity levels sky-rocketing this week, the walk / hike just wasn’t an option.  So, I contented myself with a bit of poetry instead.  Yes, it’s a fact, I find poetry incredibly soothing and when I’m fit to blow a gasket or two, I often lose myself in some of my favourite poems for a half an hour or so.  My top three favourite poets are W.B. Yeats, Patrick Kavanagh and Seamus Heaney.

One of my all time favourite poems is, In Memoriam MKH 1911 – 1984 by Seamus Heaney, a wonderful man who sadly passed away in 2013.  It’s Sunday morning here in Australia – a most appropriate time to share the poem with you all.

When all the others were away at Mass

I was all hers as we peeled potatoes.

They broke the silence, let fall one by one

Like solder weeping off the soldering iron:

Cold comforts set between us, things to share

Gleaming in a bucket of clean water.

And again let fall. Little pleasant splashes

From each other’s work would bring us to our senses.

So while the parish priest at her bedside

Went hammer and tongs at the prayers for the dying

And some were responding and some crying

I remembered her head bent towards my head,

Her breath in mine, our fluent dipping knives–

Never closer the whole rest of our lives.

Seamus Heaney

Have a good week – Roisin.

The G20 In Brisbane – Welcome To The “Hippest City” In Australia

So it’s all eyes on Brisbane this weekend as the leaders of the world’s twenty most powerful nations descend on the city for their annual pow-wow.  Coming along with them are all the admin, support and security staff and of course no international backscratching event would be complete without the accompanying posse of media.

It’s estimated that Brisbane can expect an influx of approximately 10,000 visitors over the next few days.  So, what will they find when they get here?  Lonely Planet recently named Brisbane “the hippest city” in Australia – no mean accolade.  Having lived here for the past two and a half years, I have to say I agree with them.  Brisbane is one cool town.  G20 attendees will find streets with jacaranda and bougainvillea in full bloom.  Having a sub-tropical climate the city is known for its al-fresco dining and it’s pretty unbeatable when this takes place along the river such as at the Eagle Street precinct.  When it comes to after-hours entertainment much of the action is to be found in The Valley – home to some pretty cool bars and music venues.

Street Mural In The Valley

The Brisbane river is the life-blood of the city and affords the visitor one of the most effective and fabulous ways to see Brisbane and to connect up with its many diverse neighbourhoods.  One of my favourite things to do is hop on the Citycat (the highspeed catamarans that go up and down the river day and night) and let the wind tug at my face as we zip from stop to stop, looking at all the amazing riverside properties.

Citycat Ferries – The Best Way To Get Around The City

One of my favourite places to head to on the Citycat is the Southbank area with its city beaches.  Yes you read that correctly – beaches in the middle of the city.  Originally developed as part of  Expo ’88 the area has since been re-developed and improved and provides an amazing place to meet, chill and relax in the heart of the city.

Southbank and Its City Beaches

With Temperatures set to soar to 40+ degrees over the weekend – that’s 105 Fahrenheit! – I’d be willing to bet you might find a few delegates cooling off at Street’s Beach.  This is one of the things I’m not crazy about Brisbane – the extreme temperatures in summer.  Last summer saw some of the highest temperatures ever recorded in Australia and it looks like this year isn’t going to be any different.

If there is one things the G20 delegates won’t find in Brisbane this weekend however, it’s a Brisbanite.  The past few months have seen a heavy emphasis on security and traffic restrictions with road closures.  The city centre is on lock-down and the locals have been given the distinct impression to stay outta town!

6000 Police Officers Will be on Brisbane Streets This weekend

We even have the day off!  Which means only one thing to a Brisbanite – the chance to get to their beloved beaches on either the Sunshine or the Gold Coasts – which offer an embarrassment of riches when it comes to golden sands.  All roads led out of Brisbane last night and this morning.

The Bruce Highway – Chocca!

And they were chocca – as my Aussie friends would say.  Brisbane city centre is effectively a ghost town.  Realising they may have gone overboard and empty streets aren’t exactly the image they want to portray, city officials have recently announced the availability of 1000 free car parking spaces over the weekend.  In a city where it costs $30 per hour for parking – this is rather generous of them.

That’s one thing all the delegates will find in Brisbane – shocking prices for food, drink and taxis.  Then again hip and cool was never cheap.

Freebie Alert!

Free! Unfinished Business is free  Thurs 13th Nov – Sunday 16th Nov.  An amazon short read – check it out.

http://amzn.to/1B15TSx

Unfinished Business

Take two and half hours for yourself and enjoy!