Anna’s Comments (group member since Mar 21, 2017)

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

My first thought was - definitely separate. My second thought is combine. My third... oh dear, it is a dilemma, isn't it! With combining them, it might keep the costs down. Yes - combine.

Excellent, thank you.

Would you please add:

Hide in Time
One Dark Night
Under a Dark Star

Thank you!

0.99 until 5th June or FREE with Kindle Unlimited

Hide in Time is a time-travel romance with a dash of mystery and lots of adventure.

On your death bed, they say it's not the things you've done that you regret most, but the things you've left undone.

In 1814 Laura misjudges the man she loves and storms off from him only to discover that she's made a terrible mistake. She longs to put it right but finds herself in the 21st century and unable to do so. Or can she?

Laura risks her life to restore happiness to the man she has so badly misjudged and in doing so she frees herself from the destructive regret lingering in her life. And throughout, love patiently waits for her.

Excerpt (just to see if it's your kind of read):

“Whoa, there,” barked the man with the whip which had been flailing perilously close to the scarlet-liveried man standing guard at the back. “Whoo, whoo.” He brought the horses to a halt and bellowed, “Get out of the way, woman. Are you weak in the mind!”

“Great flumpleducks, girl; what are you doing here?” A woman, wearing a long, grey skirt, brown shawl tied around her shoulders and a white mobcap, stepped down from the coach onto the track.

Instinctively, Xandra put her hand to her head and felt her own cap with the lacy scarf still tied around it. If she could have answered, she would have, but she wasn’t at all sure what she was doing here.

The horses restlessly pawed the ground and tossed their heads.

“Get her out of the way. We’re already late,” called the driver.

“You mind your manners. You’re charging a king’s ransom to take us to Canterbury tonight, so you just…”

“What is it, Martha? What causes the delay?” A man in clerical garb alighted from the coach. To say he was amply proportioned would do his physique insufficient justice. He approached Xandra. “Are you in distress?”

Xandra looked down at her wet, sandy shoes and the hem of her dress which hung damp, heavy and close around her ankles.

“Flollops! Of course she’s in distress. Can’t you see she’s all wet and wobbly?”

Parson Emmanuel Raffles looked both annoyed and abashed. “Martha, you are to be my kitchen maid, not my mouthpiece.” He sighed and muttered, “God forbid.”
~
Reviewers have said it makes a good read for the summer holidays.

Yes, Isaac, Carole's got a wonderful way of opening our eyes to what we are capable of achieving. You raise the standards, Carole.

Carole wrote: "Anna Faversham wrote: "All the very best with getting this off the ground, Isaac.

I don't have a blog!"

Make a blog, Anna!!!"

But what would I say? I keep a diary - a very private diary and that and daily events which are interesting are stored ready to sprinkle in present and future wips.

I know I need to update myself. Sigh.

I agree, Ellis, with pretty much all you've said. I write historical novels and if the telephone rings it pitches me right out of the game, or I start a new game like catching up on Goodreads and the best one is to declare a tea break.

Strangely, my landline handset sits right next to my desk and has now gone dead - tee hee. I suppose I ought to get a new one. Sigh. Mobile? Yeah, but I can hide that.

My Oxford English Dictionary - you know, that thing we used to use before Word, Google, etc, - says focused is the preferred English spelling. I've never seen it with a double ss in reputable English writing.

And... don't get me started on this subject because it is never-ending but I must just say (!) that the American spellings are frequently our old British spellings which the Brits have changed/evolved.

Realize used to be the 'correct' way to spell what Microsoft and nearly everyone else now has decided should be spelled with an 's'. I still use a 'z' and I have no intention of following Microsoft et al. Though the reality is, because I am not an expert on this, I muddle along a bit.

'Honor' used to be how the English spelled 'honour'.

I see the Americans as the guardians of old English. But... no I'll shut up now, otherwise you'll all fall asleep.

Bill Bryson's 'Mother Tongue' is a good read on this subject

Actually doing the writing? Best time is morning and then early evening. Useless in the afternoon.

Creating and plotting - when exercising.

All the very best with getting this off the ground, Isaac.

I don't have a blog!

I'm glad you've reported it - that is so helpful for future publishing. Thank you.

Welcome Nini, Marjorie and Patti. You look like interesting people!

Or where and when you were taught?

I used to use two because these tiny periods are often difficult for those with poor eyesight to pick out. However I changed because I seemed to be the only one holding out. Goodreads is easy reading though or perhaps that's because I've got it turned up to 125%!

There's also Autocrit. I've used it to spot overuse of some words mostly, but I can do that myself now I know which ones they are. It does do lots more but I can spend too much time on it. I think it is more expensive than ProWritingAid but it might be more thorough. I only want to use one of these things once I get to the end of the final draft which is always a long way off!

My writing desk faces the wall because if I look out of the window, I start day dreaming.

Jon wrote: "Anna Faversham wrote: "Hello Jon, and welcome to the group. I hope it's warmer in Devon than it is in Kent - bit chilly today."

Thanks Anna. It is beautifully sunny down here today.


(Not actual..."

Yes! It warmed up and the sun came out, thanks for sending it my way.

And Carole, thanks. Yes, it nearly always looks green from above. But the US has just so much more to see!

Thanks for the info, Ben. Very interesting and very well done.

My cost per click is much higher and perhaps I need to look at that!

Hello Jon, and welcome to the group. I hope it's warmer in Devon than it is in Kent - bit chilly today.

Nicole wrote: "I'd say if you're not earning more from your ads than you're spending, it's probably a good idea to pause them and check the things I mentioned at the very end of the post. (Is it worth a relaunch ..."

I have just relaunched with a much tighter budget so I have to wait and see if it is a repeat experience. My cover is often complimented, so that must be OK. Apart from that I'm not so confident. Social proof? Hmm... bit patchy. UK reviews are 4.4 to 4.7. US down at 3.9 to 4.2.

Your genres are very different from mine.

I haven't heard of anyone who has found that they make money from the ads except for one person, I'd just like to see some of us beat the odds, and you are helping with this! So a big thank you.

I have called them my donation to Amazon's expenses but I am ever hopeful that they'll help me to leap out of the invisibility cloak.

Thank you, Nicole. This is an excellent tutorial.

I used AmAds, both sponsored and product display ads, while I was away from my desk for a couple of months just to keep the ball rolling. It cost a small fortune to do that.

I am running the sponsored ads again but I am keeping the maximum cost per day to $3. This means that frequently the little 'run out of budget' message comes up (the $3 has been spent on say 15 clicks at 0.20 each). And that means that around 3 p.m. in western USA the book cannot be advertised. To stop that happening, I had to go very much higher. Possibly $8 a day per book. Can't remember now, sorry.

So, three books x $3 a day x 7 days, i.e. $63 for one week. I'd need to sell more than 21 books a week to recover that. At $7 a day I need to be selling 50 books a week (at $2.99) to recover the cost of $147 a week. And those are the gross figures. Net - I'd need to sell more.

The above is just a warning before launching into this.

I noticed that the books taking the top position belonged to authors at the top of the charts. Of course - they have the money to spend.

The crucial figure is how much you spend and how much you get back, of course, and this is highlighted for us by Amazon and shown as a percentage. The lower the percentage, the better it is for you. Only available in the US. I hope it comes to the UK.

My question:

What sort of percentages would you say are average for cost to the number of sales? Just as an example, some of my keywords produce 55% (hurray) but one was 540% (in other words, I was paying a lot of money to achieve sales from that keyword).

Thank you, Nicole. As my time zone is GMT+1, I might not be able to interact with you tomorrow but I am very grateful for all your tips which confirm I'm doing it right! But still it costs too much.