A huge thank you to anyone and everyone who downloaded my novella Mischief at Mulberry Manor while it was free over the last three days. It's been a very interesting experiment and I guess I won't know the true results for a while yet. However, I do know it was downloaded well over 1000 times, mainly in the USA, followed by the UK and a few in several other countries around the world! It also stayed in the number #1 and #2 spot in the Amazon free charts for historical fiction (under Scottish and Victorian).
Hopefully, it will continue to remain higher up the charts in general, now that it's been brought to attention in this way. I was also delighted to see an increase in sales of my new novel, Midwinter Masquerade on Amazon UK, in particular. It's good to try different ways of getting an e-book in front of readers and it's all trial and error as with most ventures in life.
On the subject of books and readers, here's a link to an interesting article in the online Huffington Post about book marketing predictions for 2014 - some essential thoughts for anyone publishing a book next year. Although I'm with three different e-publishers, we still have to take huge responsibility for marketing and promotion, and if we go down the self-publishing route (as with Mischief at Mulberry Manor), it's even more important to start off equipped with some positive ideas for promotion. An author could have the best story in the world but, without readers, there are no sales!
Now to think of my next writing projects, including finishing a couple already started. No doubt I'll mention them once I know what they all are. I'd love to write down some kind of writing/marketing plan for the new year, but I'm not sure I'm organised enough yet. Do share any writing plans you have for 2014, if you've made any.
Rosemary
11 comments:
I find the whole idea of promoting a book overwhelming, Rosemary. At least I shall have a lot of blogging friends to ask if ever I produce something publishable.
Writing plans? What are those?
But I might just forbid myself to go near the Internet until I've written, say, 50 words. How about that?
I've got my download and am looking forward to reading it. Thanks for sharing the article on Huffington Post. I'm an Independent author so it pays to keep abreast of book marketing trends. Next year I'll be heading in a new direction by publishing my debut novel. At the moment however I'm concentrating on publishing the print version of my latest N/F book and then promoting it.
I'm sure you won't be that long in joining us, Wendy! But, yes, it gets overwhelming sometimes having to promote our work.
That'll do fine, Frances, and today it's 50 more than I've done, apart from online!
Many thanks, Diane! Good luck with that novel and with your N/F writing.
Hi Rosemary, can I put you on my blog chain link thingy, as seen on Patsy's blog. Sorry to post about it on here, but a bit busy, and don't worry if you don't want to.
Hi Susan - thanks for asking me but can I leave it for now, please? I've already refused so many other people that it wouldn't be fair to agree now!
It's hard to be sure how much good any particular promotion does, I think. 1,000 downloads sounds good though. Hopefully those people will like it and be encouraged to read more of your work.
It's hard to be sure how much good any particular promotion does, I think. 1,000 downloads sounds good though. Hopefully those people will like it and be encouraged to read more of your work.
I find the thought of promotion daunting and wish I could just write, rather than promote. It's not that I wouldn't enjoy having a try, but I just don't think I have the ability!
I would love to make concrete plans for 2014 and am mulling the options around at the moment. I have to do a lot of work on my short story collection, but also have a half-finished rough draft for a new novel as well. I would love to take that apart and make sure it's better planned than the last one, including chapter breakdowns, before I start writing again. x
Both of these are on my e-reader and will be read over the Christmas holidays.
And I'm looking forward to reading more of your future projects.:-)
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