Book Babies - Seen and Heard

by Jeanette O'Hagan

July has been a busy month as I've released, launched and toured Blood Crystal, the sequel to Heart of the Mountain.

Unlikely heroes, thrilling adventure, clash of cultures and an unthinkable choice – Blood Crystal is the second novella in the Under the Mountain series.

The underground realm is under attack from mad Overseer Uzza and the Crystal Heart is failing. Twins Delvina and Retza brave a treacherous journey to seek help from Zadeki and his people. What are the twins prepared to do to save their realm and those they love from certain destruction?

With over a million new releases each year, it is easy to be invisible. When readers have towering to-read piles, they can feel overwhelmed by choice and disinclined to try new authors or titles. The problem as an indie author, without the backing of a traditional publisher's promotional muscle or distribution networks, is how to get your book baby seen and heard.

So this is the bit where I tell you the magical formula and we all become overnight successes.

And I would, I promise, if I had all the answers. Truth to tell, I'm still working them out, though I know I get increased sales when I launch a new book and sometimes with book tours or author take-overs, yet it often seems hard to sustain the momentum.

However, here are some things that I think can help:

• Engaging Book Cover and Blurb
• Street Team ready and willing to promote your books
• Book Reviews and plenty of them.
• Book Launch - either physical and/or an e-launch
• Blog Tours, competitions and giveaways
• Media exposure & Social Media
• Catalogues
• Distributors, including Library
• Reduced price sales
• Conventions, Fairs, Markets
• Word of Mouth

I often have the best intentions but, as an Indie author, juggling all the different hats can make it difficult to do it all. So I do what I can.

Book Reviews

I've garnered some great reviews for Blood Crystal and I'm thankful for every single one, yet I'm not close to the 10 let alone the 50 that helps with Amazon visibility. If you are interested in reviewing Heart of the Mountain and/or Blood Crystal please request a review copy :)

Launch

On Saturday, 8 July we had a fast-paced, exciting Facebook e-launch with my guests participating enthusiastically, many winning prizes and a good number buying Blood Crystal. This time I sole-hosted the event with information about Blood Crystal and my other stories, competitions and activities. My aim was to encourage participation and to pique interest and sales.

In the past, I've also shared the launch-event with other authors. This can be an effective way of widening the audience and generally adds the scope of competitions and prizes. It may take the focus away from the book being launched (though not necessarily) and it may not work as well if the guest authors write in a vastly different genre or have a different audience. I've participated in author take-overs where most of the books tended to erotica or focused on demons and I felt out of place amid all the bare male chests, suggestive poses and red, glowing eyes. It makes sense to invite authors that will complement your book and brand. I've also found in some author-takeovers, that fans don't always stick around for the other authors' slots - especially if the event is long- perhaps over the whole day or even a week. So these are all things to consider.

Both sole hosting and author take-overs are great ways of meeting fans and raising the profile of your book.

Friends of Nardva

Having a group of people who are prepared to advocate for your book can make a big difference.

I've started a ongoing street team/Facebook group - Friends of Nardva - for readers and supporters who enjoy reading my work and wish to be proactive about promoting it - in terms of beta-reading, reviews, sharing links, participation in blog tours and other events etc. I'm thankful for a great group of people who support me in different ways (and enjoy returning the favour).

Blog Tour

Another effective way of finding new readers is through a blog tour.  For Blood Crystal I'm currently running a blog tour with prize for commenting on each individual blog stop and prizes for the first two people that complete the scavenger hunt running across the blogs.

In part, the idea is to gain interest of the readers of the different blogs and to encourage interaction and participation. The Scavenger Hunt - apart from being fun & have a $50 Amazon voucher for first prize - hopefully encourages readers like you :) to stop by at each blog, providing perhaps some cross-fertilisation. I'm hoping too that it piques your interest in both Heart of the Mountain and Blood Crystal (perhaps even enough to buy and read and even review).

As we are featuring the same book at each of the 9 stops - we worked at making each stop different. In my first stop, I talked of unlikely heroes; Paula Vince gave a thoughtful review of Blood Crystal, Lynne Stringer, Cindy Tomamichel and David Rawlings all gave different slants on an author review (with me), at the Write Flourish I discussed the influence of setting on writing point of view using Blood Crystal as an example; Adele Jones interviewed one of the secondary characters, Lady Zara; Adam Collings has a video interview today, and I'll wrap it all on Friday, announce the winners for each blog spot and provide a place for Scavenger Hunt answers.

Reduced Price

For the month of July I've reduced the prince of Heart of the Mountain, the first novella in the series - to basically a gold coin (99c US - about $1.30 AUD). Hopefully to encourage purchases.

YA Fantasy Adventure in the lost realm deep under the mountain.

Twins Delvina and Retza’s greatest desire is to be accepted as prentices by their parents’ old crew when they stumble across a stranger. Trapped under the mountain, young Zadeki’s only thought is to escape home to his kin. Peril awaits all three youngsters. Will they pull apart or work together to save the underground realm?

How successful has all this been - I guess I won't know the full impact until the end of the month. It has increased sales (nothing to break the bank by any means) and I have connected with new readers - which is just as, if not more important. I am curious to see if there are ongoing effects after July. Like most authors, I get a special buzz when someone enjoys my stories and even more when they feel inspired by them. It would be exciting to see that buzz communicate from one enthusiastic reader to another.

So - what would you do with a $50 Amazon voucher?
For the opportunity to participate in the Scavenger hunt, you can find the stops of the blog tour here.

And why not -
Request a review copy of Heart of the Mountain or Blood Crystal in the comments below or message me here
Join Friends of Nardva
Purchase a copy of Heart of the Mountain, to read and review.


What about you, what has helped your book baby be seen and heard?

Jeanette O’Hagan first spun tales in the world of Nardva at the age of nine. She enjoys writing fiction, poetry, blogging and editing. Her Nardva stories span continents, time and cultures. They involve a mixture of courtly intrigue, adventure, romance and fantasy.

Jeanette has just released Blood Crystal, sequel to Heart of the Mountain with four short stories coming out this year. She is writing her Akrad’s Legacy Series—a Young Adult fantasy adventure with courtly intrigue and romantic elements. 

Jeanette has practised medicine, studied communication, history, theology and a Master of Arts (Writing). She loves reading, painting, travel, catching up for coffee with friends, pondering the meaning of life and communicating God’s great love. She lives in Brisbane with her husband and children.

Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/JeanetteOHaganAuthorAndSpeaker

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9833645.Jeanette_O_Hagan

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JeanetteOHagan

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Jeanette-OHagan/e/B00RBSE85C/

Websites: http://JeanetteOHagan.com and http://Jennysthread.com

The ACRBA Blog Alliance Needs Your Help.

By Jenny Blake

Today I am talking about (ACRBA) Australian ChristianReaders Blog Alliance and how it can help you as an author and some of you may be able to help us.

Firstly A little background on what ACRBA is how and it came about. Several years back Narelle Atkins and I were talking about blog alliances and how many were no longer sending books to Australian and New Zealand readers unless they could get the book as an e-book. As a member of several alliances I was saying how much as a reader I enjoy being able to review books and promote authors. We got talking about how it would be nice to be able to support Australasian Authors and through this the alliance was formed.

From there we created a blog page and started recruiting reviewers and then authors and publishers. We do review overseas books as well as Australasian but first preference goes to books from this area. We read both print books and eBooks but at present have several members who can only read print books.

We do not charge for blog tours unlike some alliances the only cost is the books that are requested. We send out requests to our members and if they would like to review the book we will then send on the information to the author or publisher. If you are an author who wishes to tour with us we have a form on the blog to fill in and submit chapter one, and a blurb of the book. Publishers can also fill in the form. We also ask if you will send print or eBooks and how many you are willing to send. We understand it the costs and want to help authors as much as possible.

For reviewers the requirement is to have an active blog and to post the information we provide and a review. We also would like reviewers to post a review on sites such as Amazon, Goodreads and Koorong. We also encourage reviewers not requesting a book to post the information to help promote the books. We do encourage bloggers to read at least one book every 3 months. The exceptions are if you are only reading one genre such as children’s books or non-fiction.

Now to part of the reason for this blog post we need help. We recently lost some of our reviewers due to a few reasons most being they are not blogging or don’t have time to read books. We need new reviewers. If you enjoy reading and would like a free book we are interested in hearing from you. As mentioned we send out the info on the books and you can request the books that appeal to you. We do however request you average one book every 3 months. We also would like you to post the HTML of books you are not reviewing during the blog tour week to give the authors more exposure. We also have a form at our blog to fill in.

We also have a category called friends of ACRBA for bloggers who want to help promote the books and will post the HTML on their blog during the week we tour the books. This also provides free blog content you can use on your blog and we even provide the code for the tour. The tour is always the first full week of the month. 

Links:

Blog: http://acrba.blogspot.com.au/

Submissions: http://acrba.blogspot.com.au/p/submissions.html

Applications for reviewer or Friends of ACRBA: http://acrba.blogspot.com.au/p/application.html

JENNY BLAKE (aka Ausjenny) is an avid reader. When not reading she enjoys watching cricket, in fact you could call her a cricket fanatic, scrapbooking and jigsaws. She volunteers at the local Christian bookshop where she can recommend books to customers. Her book blog is where she reviews books and interview authors. Her goal is to help promote new books and encourage authors. Her blog is at http://ausjenny.blogspot.com and is Co-Founder of http://acrba.blogspot.com

Putting together a blog tour

My novel 'Imogen's Chance' was released one week ago (April 1st). Since January, I have been very busy putting together a blog tour. Basically, a blog tour is comprised of several guest posts on various blogs, all within the same period of time. It is something I have seen other authors manage successfully. I've enjoyed participating in theirs but have never had one of my own before, so I decided that now was the time.

It has taken quite a bit of coordination. Some of the bloggers had only one date in April in which they could squeeze me in, so I had to take it. Others were able to let me choose my own preferred date, so that clashes were minimal. I managed to put together a tour which is more or less evenly spaced throughout the release month of April.

Parts which were challenging

1. Trying to answer all of the interview questions so that the posts were not repetitive
I wanted a blog tour in which every stop along the way is distinct from all the others. If I received questions from several bloggers which were similar to each other, I'd try to come up with different answers that nobody had read before. A couple of questions I can think of were along the lines of 'What are you working on next?' or 'Tell us something about yourself which may surprise people?' or, of course, 'What is Imogen's Chance all about?'

On the whole, I found the questions to be fairly varied. Some bloggers keep a stash of their own personal, standard questions which they send to every guest.

2. Getting all of the questions and guest posts finished in time.
I was overwhelmed that so many bloggers and fellow authors were willing to give me a plug. It was so heady that I'd accept every offer. It turned out this meant a lot of thinking and writing. The workload reminded me of schooldays, long ago, when I was always battling to get my homework submitted on time. Everything else, such as keeping up my regular blog and working on other writing, had to be put on hold. Getting ready for this blog tour turned out to be my life for several weeks. I still haven't finished all of them, although I'm getting close. It's been a bit crazy around my place.

3. Wondering whether I'm annoying old friends.
The necessary announcements on social media of each new post have been coming thick and fast so far. I'm trusting that the regular people who see my posts on Facebook or Twitter will understand that this is the nature of things for this month. Even though they may get tired of the sight of front cover, and Imogen's pretty face, by the time Easter has finished, they are still celebrating with me.

Parts which were great

1. Making new friends.
I'd never met some of these friendly bloggers before. I'm happy to have been introduced to several blogs which are brand new to me, and I've now got links to their blogs so that I can follow future posts. I'm anticipating news of several interesting books in the future. It's been lovely to see that each of the blogs I've been a guest on have their own unique character.

2. Having to dig into my heart of hearts for answers.
Some interview questions have been challenging, to say the least. Coming up with honest answers has helped me learn more about what makes me tick. Some of the insights were things I would never have necessarily tried to put into words.

3. Being able to meet new readers.
The theory behind a blog tour, of course, is for news of a new book to cover as much ground as possible. Each blog has its own loyal followers, maximising the number of potential readers who will learn about my new novel. It's been a pleasure to meet them, respond to their friendly messages, and even post giveaways to some of them. I love to think that just as I'm making new friends, others are learning about a new author whose books may fit well on their shelves.

It's been a rewarding experience, the challenging parts included, and I'd recommend putting a blog tour together to anybody else with a new release.

Paula Vince is an award-winning Christian novelist from South Australia. She writes contemporary dramas with elements of romance, mystery and suspense. She believes that nothing has the potential to make as much of an impact as a well-told story.
My blog tour for Imogen's Chance is well underway. If you'd like to have a look or join in, the link is here.