Help Me Get There

We all have those things that crop up that we really want to do. Whether it’s going to a concert by our favorite artist or planning the dream get away with those most important to us, we all have things we want to do and places we want to see. And nine out of ten it takes money to do those things. This is where I need you to help me out.

Here’s what I want to do:
There is a writers’ conference coming up in my area that I’d really like to attend. Why? Well, for starters, it gives me an opportunity to hang out with other authors face-to-face. We can share ideas, take joy in our successes and commiserate in our fails together. It also will provide me with classes on how to improve my writing and marketing abilities. And there’s the ability to spread word about my books to a new group of people, potentially increasing my readership which would be great! All in all, it sounds pretty good right?

Here’s what I need:
The conference has a registration fee in order to attend. With my husband in school and two little ones at home, I’m sure you can imagine what my budget looks like. I’ve talked to my sweetie and he’s agreed that the money I make off of my books is the money that we can use for fun stuff. And this conference will be a big fun stuff. :) Well, big for a college student budget. Early-bird registration is $55. To make that from sales of my books, I would need to sell 15 books on Amazon. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, I’ve reached that point where many of the people that bought the first have already bought the second, so sales are slow. So, what can we do?

This is my proposal:
We can do a little fundraiser! And what fundraiser doesn’t have prizes? Prizes, you say? That’s right, prizes! Now, I’m on a student budget which means the prizes aren’t going to be big or glamorous, but here’s what I’m thinking we’ll do. The prizes will be based on how many sales I can get in these last few days of January and the month of February. Throughout the month I’ll keep you updated on where we’ve gotten. The prizes will be as follows:
15 sales: A big thank you blog post for helping me make my goal
20 sales: The thank you blog AND I will release a new story in March/April as a FREE ebook on Smashwords. What will the story be about? Well, that’s where you will come in again. I will do a poll on my Facebook fanpage and quiz you on what genre you’d like to see me try. I’ll give it my level best and we’ll see how I do! I’ll write the story during the month of February. Whether or not it comes out, will be dependent on sales!
25 sales: The thank you blog, new story AND a random drawing for a free, signed copy of my newest book, Finding Prince Charming. The drawing will be from fans of my Facebook page, so if you haven’t “liked” Jessica L. Elliott on Facebook yet, go ahead and do it today!
30 sales or more: The thank you blog, new story, book drawing AND a random drawing for a $10 gift card to Barnes and Noble. Why Barnes and Noble? Because we’re readers! :)

So, that sounds like a pretty good deal, doesn’t it? All I ask from you is that you tell others about Charming Academy and Finding Prince Charming . The more interest we can generate, the more sales we’ll see. I will also try to set up a book signing for the end of February in my local area. As part of the fundraiser, I’m putting a discount on CreateSpace for the books. Doesn’t that defeat the purpose, you ask? No, because I make more from sales on CreateSpace than I do from Amazon. By doing the discount, the books will make the same amount from either place. So, if you send your friends to my estore, give them the discount code GWHQ24H9. This will give them 20% off their purchase of Charming Academy.

Now it’s time! Go talk to your friends, share with your neighbors and help me get to the Kansas Writer’s Association Scene Conference! Thank you! :)

Charming Academy estore: https://www.createspace.com/3784472