- Joined
- Jan 3, 2013
- Messages
- 87
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My apologies if this will end up being a wall of text! My hope is that someone will get something out of it.
Actions Taken:
* Used Held For Ransom’s tool + several hours on Amazon to determine popular fiction genres
* Deduced that serial erotic romance, mystery, and post-apocalyptic/sci-fi were top contenders (YMMV); decided that I could write an erotic romance most quickly out of those
* Extensively outlined a three-book series. I’m aiming for each book to be between 15-25k words. I’m using a pretty firm 3-act structure for the series and each book to make it easier to write faster
* Wrote, edited (then rewrote, re-edited, then read out loud several times) an erotic romance story of approximately 18k words
* Picked a title & pen name, then bought a cover image from this guy: goonwrite.com. There was a slight detail on the image that I overlooked, but I’m still pretty happy with it. He was reasonably priced, worked fast, and I had no trouble uploading the image
* Compiled my document & cover image on Scrivener - this is pertinent because part of my formatting problems, which ate up a lot of time, were due to me not knowing to include a title page, front matter and table of contents prior topreviewing it
* Researched and then made a list of categories and keyword phrases to use when uploading. I also made sure to include as many of these keywords as possible (without making it sound like I did so) in my book description.
* Signed up on Amazon and uploaded my document, cover, description and keywords
Actions Forthcoming
* Set up my author page
* Finish second book (slated to be done with the first draftthe week of 10/07)
* Be considerably better with formatting, organizing and uploading
* Look into buying a positive review from someplace like Fiverr. Initially I had a lot of issues with this, but thanks to the fastlane mentality, I feel like this is akin to a company investing in SEO for their new product; also, thanks to reading Influence, I know that “social proof†could go a long way in getting me readers. (Granted, I could ask a friend or a family member to leave a nice review, but long story short, I’m in the closet about writing an erotic romance)
* Once a few reviews are up, participate in Free Promotion days on KDP Select and try my hand at marketing on ebook blogs and sites, as well as testing different tactics to measure any effect on sales
* After the 90 days of KDP Select are up, decline to re-enroll, and publish with other distributors
* Continue being inspired by the members here who are action-takers in their respective fields
* Update my thread to share what I learn
Mistakes:
* Being disorganized with my drafts and files
* Spent too much time worrying about formatting in Word, when I should’ve stuck with Scrivener
* Spent too much time setting myself up on Nook, iBookstore and Kobo; I should’ve decided if I was going to stick with KDP Select beforehand
* I’m not yet sure if this is a true mistake or not, but I am wondering if I should’ve waited before all three books were done before publishing
Observations:
While getting to this starting point is just the beginning, the work going into it was a huge learning process. This was at times frustrating and discouraging, but having a finished product that I’m happy with was well worth it.
Although steamy, sweaty stories are not my cup of tea, the research I did told me that it was the preferred cup of a multitude of people. Thanks to MJ’s book, as well as a bunch of other resources, I know that it’s not about what I like. For now, it’s enough for me give readers the best story I can. The stuff I’m learning about presentation, marketing, copywriting, etc. will come in handy when I can afford to be more precious about my work.
Getting the “your book is available in the kindle store!†email was a much-needed gust of wind in my sails. I don’t know how this will turn out, but I’ve built a product, and now the market gets to tell me what to do. I might be a n00b at this, but I feel so much further along on my road than I did even three months ago. I am nervous, but excited and hopeful.
Thanks for reading if you’ve made it this far!
Actions Taken:
* Used Held For Ransom’s tool + several hours on Amazon to determine popular fiction genres
* Deduced that serial erotic romance, mystery, and post-apocalyptic/sci-fi were top contenders (YMMV); decided that I could write an erotic romance most quickly out of those
* Extensively outlined a three-book series. I’m aiming for each book to be between 15-25k words. I’m using a pretty firm 3-act structure for the series and each book to make it easier to write faster
* Wrote, edited (then rewrote, re-edited, then read out loud several times) an erotic romance story of approximately 18k words
* Picked a title & pen name, then bought a cover image from this guy: goonwrite.com. There was a slight detail on the image that I overlooked, but I’m still pretty happy with it. He was reasonably priced, worked fast, and I had no trouble uploading the image
* Compiled my document & cover image on Scrivener - this is pertinent because part of my formatting problems, which ate up a lot of time, were due to me not knowing to include a title page, front matter and table of contents prior topreviewing it
* Researched and then made a list of categories and keyword phrases to use when uploading. I also made sure to include as many of these keywords as possible (without making it sound like I did so) in my book description.
* Signed up on Amazon and uploaded my document, cover, description and keywords
Actions Forthcoming
* Set up my author page
* Finish second book (slated to be done with the first draftthe week of 10/07)
* Be considerably better with formatting, organizing and uploading
* Look into buying a positive review from someplace like Fiverr. Initially I had a lot of issues with this, but thanks to the fastlane mentality, I feel like this is akin to a company investing in SEO for their new product; also, thanks to reading Influence, I know that “social proof†could go a long way in getting me readers. (Granted, I could ask a friend or a family member to leave a nice review, but long story short, I’m in the closet about writing an erotic romance)
* Once a few reviews are up, participate in Free Promotion days on KDP Select and try my hand at marketing on ebook blogs and sites, as well as testing different tactics to measure any effect on sales
* After the 90 days of KDP Select are up, decline to re-enroll, and publish with other distributors
* Continue being inspired by the members here who are action-takers in their respective fields
* Update my thread to share what I learn
Mistakes:
* Being disorganized with my drafts and files
* Spent too much time worrying about formatting in Word, when I should’ve stuck with Scrivener
* Spent too much time setting myself up on Nook, iBookstore and Kobo; I should’ve decided if I was going to stick with KDP Select beforehand
* I’m not yet sure if this is a true mistake or not, but I am wondering if I should’ve waited before all three books were done before publishing
Observations:
While getting to this starting point is just the beginning, the work going into it was a huge learning process. This was at times frustrating and discouraging, but having a finished product that I’m happy with was well worth it.
Although steamy, sweaty stories are not my cup of tea, the research I did told me that it was the preferred cup of a multitude of people. Thanks to MJ’s book, as well as a bunch of other resources, I know that it’s not about what I like. For now, it’s enough for me give readers the best story I can. The stuff I’m learning about presentation, marketing, copywriting, etc. will come in handy when I can afford to be more precious about my work.
Getting the “your book is available in the kindle store!†email was a much-needed gust of wind in my sails. I don’t know how this will turn out, but I’ve built a product, and now the market gets to tell me what to do. I might be a n00b at this, but I feel so much further along on my road than I did even three months ago. I am nervous, but excited and hopeful.
Thanks for reading if you’ve made it this far!
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