Seeking that perfect tagline …

I get a look of panic on my face when asked to produce tagline for a book I wrote. I can either think of nothing (how can I possibly capture all that rich detail in a few words) or I can think of a whole bunch of them and they all sound stupid.

But, I’m trying, because I do understand that a tagline sells.

In late May I entered the first book in my new collection in the Self-Published Fantasy Blog Off (affectionately known as SPFBO). Three hundred books are allowed in (first come first serve as long as you meet the qualifications), ten finalists are chosen and there is one winner. As you can guess, at least 290 entrants aren’t delighted with the results.

However, it presents a great opportunity to virtually meet other authors and to do a little promotion too. My book is in limbo at the moment, waiting on my reviewer to probably cut it (I have to be honest with myself) when he finishes reading and reviewing his remaining three novels. Because he isn’t as fast as some reviewers, my book has outlasted others. Because his isn’t as slow as some, it’s likely to happen soon.

So, I’m trying to make hay while the sun shines. (What a quaint agrarian expression. In a weird way aren’t our over-used expressions just taglines?)

My artistic efforts are now making their way onto Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and here, as I roll out the taglines and give them a try.

Well, what do you think? Do I need to try, try again? Or should I quit while I’m ahead? 😉

 

 

 

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When do you get to call yourself a BESTSELLER?

I review and feature a lot of books on my blogs, and it astounds me how many of these books are written by “bestselling authors” I’ve never heard of. I suspect there is a lot of wiggle room when it comes to that title, particularly when you bestow it upon yourself.

So what’s fair and what isn’t?

I’m finishing one of my most successful Kindle Select giveaways ever. (You know, the ones Amazon will only let you do if you don’t let anyone else sell your eBook.) I’ve given away about 2000 books and guess what?

Yup. That is me sitting there at number 1. Now — this just for historical thrillers, and it only lasted for a day, and I was giving them away, not selling them. However, I was number one in a spot on big old Amazon! Does being there make me a bestselling author? (You could say I was selling them for $0.00 …)

What do you think?

Should I join the ranks of those making this claim? Then maybe I’d sell more books and then I’d have more evidence to shore up my boast. We all know people tend to buy books they think other people like … so a little success breeds more success.

Yeah. I’m thinking about it …

Free on Kindle thru Dec. 1

Layers of Light is FREE on Kindle thru Sunday Dec. 1 at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I58T5FU.

The nice people at Amazon let me give away copies of my book once every 90 days, so what better time than thanksgiving weekend to offer it for FREE .

My hope of course, is that you will download the book, and then read it. In fact, my hope is you will like the book so much that you actually go ahead and buy one of the other books in the collection. Hallelujah!

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.  For now, just DOWNLOAD THE BOOK.  Let’s see what happens after that. 🙂

Making a Boxed Set

The delightful artists at Deranged Doctor Design have created a beautiful boxed set cover for my first three books (and they made this lovely banner, too!) I got it as part of a promotional package, which is interesting because I had no intention of turning my collection of six ebooks into boxed sets.

Now ….. I’m busy reading instructions on how to concatenate the first three novels together into one document so it will work well for my readers. Lucky for me, there are lots of helpful people out there and it doesn’t sound too hard. This boxed set should be available soon!

I’m sending particular shout-outs of thanks to Kim Lambert at the Alliance of Independent Authors for her extremely helpful and detailed article “Why, When and How to Self-publish a Box Set of Ebooks.”

I’m also sending a big thanks to Joanna Penn at The Creative Penn for her excellent post “How To Create An Ebook Boxset Or Bundle And Why You Should” and to Tom Ashford for his article  “How to Create an Ebook Box Set” on the Mark Dawson’s self-publishing formula blog.

The degree to which self-publishing authors continue to share information and help each other never ceases to amaze and impress me! It is a community I am proud to be part of (even though I dangle my participles in my enthusiasm.)