J.’s Comments (group member since Jan 06, 2017)

J.’s comments from the Navigating Indieworld Discussing All Things Indie group.

Congrats, Erica!!

Nicely done ladies!!

I've been rejected for my cover before too and my covers are not particularly suggestive. Amazon also went through and removed a few of my reviews for absolutely no reason. Not happy with them at all.
Hope your week gets better!

those graphics look great! Hope they get you a ton of sales!!!

Okay, then here are the places that I posted ARCs and the results I had with them. I hope it helps!

- Advanced Copies for Review & Book Giveaways - 8 people requested an ARC and so far 2 have already posted and another 3 have requested other books. I had the best luck with this group with my previous ARCs as well.
- Authors & Reviewers - 4 people have requested, 1 posted another and another asked for other books.
- Goodreads Authors/readers - Not sure how many emailed me about it, but I think it was a few.
I also posted it in places that say you can for possible reviews and stuff, but never saw much action with those.

The other thing I did was instafreebie. Nicole Locker got me into that and since I started with them I now have almost 600 people (many are through an instafreebie promotion I did) on my mailing list and very few unsubscribers. I don't post my entire book. I just do the first few chapters and in the excerpt I provide links where people can buy my books. Since doing that, in addition to my mailing list, I've also had a few extra sales a week if not every day.

XO

Sorry Aislinn, that's rough. I have tried what Alexis was talking about in terms of offering ARCs on GR. I've had some positive results from that and even met a few people who have requested other books of mine. If you're interested, let me know and I'll share where I posted. (don't know if it's ok to put other groups on here).
I ran a promo last week that didn't do anything either. It's beyond frustrating when that happens because you feel like you just threw out your money.
Just keep plugging away! You've got something really good, stick with it and try to stay positive!

My good news. I always feel weird doing this for some reason. I've gotten some really good reviews on my ARC. And many of the people who have read my ARC have requested to read my other stuff. Some have already left reviews.

Very cool stuff!

Congrats Erica!!

And Ember, that's really awesome!

So happy for everyone!!!

Congrats Amy! That's awesome!!

Nice Becky!

Love this group!

I'm sorry you're having so much trouble getting your book out. The world is an f-ed up place right now. I feel you on that one!

So, I'm going to update my promotions because they can be expensive and I find myself stabbing in the dark with them when I try them out. Granted, I'm a romance writer so what works for me (and doesn't) might not work for everyone.

Bookdaily ad (not any of the big, expensive ones): total bust!
Bargain booksy: Running today, so far, doing well.
eBookHounds: Bust. Not total, but not making my money back either.
AskDavid: Totally awesome!

I had a really good run of selling btwn 3-6 books a day plus btwn 1k-2500k read pages a day. I was very happy with those results. Then for 4 straight days...nothing. I mean nothing. No read pages, no purchases.

I seriously couldn't figure out the drop and to be honest, I still can't. Usually even if I don't have sales, I'll have KU pages, but not this time. Then in the last few days, it picked up again. I put out a few tweets through Ask David, posted some stuff on my FB page, promoted on a free site that I don't normally use and even got myself a paid promotion which will actually run today so we'll see how those do.

My results: On Thursday I had 4 sales and 900 read pages. Yesterday, 8 sales and over 1k. So it's picking back up.

I guess my point behind my long winded story is that sometimes you need to up the marketing factor and even change that up. I picked a promotion I've never done before. I feel like if we just sit back and hope that our success continues on its own, it won't.

I have a writer friend who is pretty successful and she says that she runs one promotion a month. Sometimes they're paid and sometimes free or very inexpensive. She also sets a goal for herself. If she sells a specific number or earns a certain amount, then everything else is gravy and she's satisfied no matter what.

Don't know if any of this helps.

That's awesome CL! Congrats!

That is brilliant advice, because honestly, a negative comment can far outweigh every positive one. Whenever I get a review I don't like, I go back and read the positive ones.

AWESOME!

Fuck normal (it's okay to swear right, since Alexis did???) Anyhoo. I love non-normal! It's what makes us awesome and better writers, eh?

So here's my experience with a bunch of stuff mentioned in this post. Sorry if I'm repeating crap.

Covers: I make my own. First of all, I'm way too OCD to put them in the hands of others. Second, well, I hate to part with the money. So I get professional pics that I pay for through shutterstock and alter them online. My covers might not be the best or most professional out there, but honestly, I haven't had any complaints about them, so... I don't know. Covers are tricky business.

Reviews: So, other than being part of groups on here, I definitely hit up bloggers with either ARCs or free copies. I've gotten some responses and over time, have built up a stead list of bloggers/fans who gladly accept my free copies in exchange for reviews. Also, you can post your wears on a few of the sites here and see if anyone bites. I've definitely gotten reviews that way. But keep people who give you good reviews on a sheet of paper (or online) and when you put something new out, message them and see if they're interested.

Marketing: With my last release I used a promotion company. It cost me $100 for a cover reveal and then release blitz which spans 5 days. They basically put the book out to their list of bloggers and if they're willing, they put your new book on their website when it's released. Many also do reviews. I got 8 reviews from bloggers with that for the last one and for my newest, which isn't coming out until June, I have 10 people already scheduled to review it and another 25 to post it on their websites. That and through my promotion company, if they can't give you 3.5 stars or higher, then they don't review your book. So it's sort of like paying for good reviews, but... well... I don't care. The reviews are honest.

Book promotion sites: I've sued Manybooks, booksends, bargainbooksy and bookdaily. So far, I've seen the best action from booksends, but they're a touch on the expensive side. That said, I've made my money back twice with them so I'll take it. If you can get into bookbub, I hear they're worth the hefty cost. I can't seem to get into ereadernews, but I know some people who have done well with them.

I hope some of this helps!

Thank you everyone, especially the mods and Alexis! This was a really great promotion!

I usually promote and help out events, even when I'm not a part of them. I figure it's all good karma and I like to help fellow indies. And I'm friendly with a lot of the authors in SIA, so I'm always happy to help them out. They do the same for me.
That said, I've seen a lot of negativity on GR and I don't like it. I never understood the way fellow authors bash each other.
On a side note, I feel like an exposure is a success, whether I get sales from it or not. I'm sure our next event will be even bigger and better. Alexis and the other mods, you put so much work into this and I thank you!