Amazon advertising and BookBub

Practical suggestions from a very active and savvy independent author:

Four years ago, I fluked winning a FREE Featured Deal. I had five other books at the time, and the sell-through, and KUs were great (250,000/month). On top of this I received an additional 70 reviews for the Featured book, most of them 5-star. At the time I knew next to nothing about BookBub and expected to keep on winning Featured Deals. Was I in for a sad awakening!

Fast forward to July 2019 when I sold a mere 100 books and had a miserable 14,809 KUs. To make matters worse, I had more than doubled my number of books. There are many reasons why the preceding occurred, but the main one was that I did no promoting either via social media or paid advertising. I should say that writing is not my prime source of income, which is just as well, because if it were, I’d be starving. That said, I have a certain amount of pride and set out to remedy the foregoing.

I decided I’d actively advertise my books in promoters’ newsletters but would not spend more than $150 per month. The results to date, while not great, are promising. I’ll sell more than 200 books in October, and my KUs will nudge 30,000. The increase in revenue more than covered my advertising costs, and my numbers are up 100%. The idea now is to compound them at the same rate for the next four months.

I have not applied for a BookBub Deal this calendar year but soon will. If I’m successful, BB will be the exception to my $150 rule. I will not accept an international Deal and am of the belief that without the U.S., BB’s Deals, even with sell-through and KUs are still likely to be losers. The U.S. is critical.

The struggle that I have had is finding six suitable promoters for the seven-day Amazon countdown period. Outside of BookBub, ENT is the absolute standout. I don’t advertise the day after ENT ($45), as I’m still getting good sales and KUs from the day prior. The next-best promoter is BookRaid because it’s cheap (about 18 cents a click and usually less than $3) and is good for approximately 10 sales. Let’s say I’m promoting a book with a rank of #300,000 … it won’t be attractive to ENT’s subscribers, but by using BookRaid on the first day and another small promoter (say Authors XP at $20) on the second day, I can lower the ranking to sub #40,000 by the time ENT’s promo kicks in on the third and fourth days. Now it gets hard as I have three days to go and a remaining budget of about $82. The promoters available are eReaderIQ, FKBT, ManyBooks, The Fussy Librarian, Robin Reads, Just Kindle Books, Book Rebel, Book Gorilla, and Book Cave. I have had reasonable success with eReaderIQ ($20), FKBT ($30), and ManyBooks ($29). I might be tempted to replace FKBT with Book Gorilla ($50), but it would blow my budget by $17, and I’d need another 25 sales to justify it, and that’s unlikely.

Finally, I tried Amazon ads when they were first introduced in the U.S. with moderate success, but the competition was too hot (Mark Dawson spent $50,000 on Amazon Ads last month). However, Amazon has just introduced ads in the U.K., and I have 10 running, and they’re doing okay. I’m running them for two reasons … first-mover advantage and currently I hardly make any sales in the U.K.

5 Reasons Why Book Typography Matters More Than You Think

A Guest Post kindly supplied by Desiree Villena:

Everyone knows that, if you want  your book to sell, you need to hire a great cover designer. But many people don’t think about how important your book’s interior design is, as well. I’ve seen too many books, both self-published and traditionally published, that have clearly skimped when it comes to formatting, and as a design nerd, it makes me so sad.

But there’s much more at stake than just hurting artistic souls — think of the practical considerations. You may not realize it, but typography can have a big effect on a reader’s reaction to your book, whether they consciously notice the fonts or not. So today, I’m going to break down the five most important reasons why book typography matters for every book — including yours.

1. Professionalism

While the cover is easily the first thing readers will notice when they’re deciding whether to pick up your book, the typography is the first thing they’ll notice once they open it up. So it’s important that you make a good impression. Seeing a professional cover and a sloppy interior is like meeting someone in person and realizing that their profile picture was a lie.

If you ever doubt the impact that a font can have on your professional reputation, consider this: would you be more inclined to trust someone whose resume was printed in Times New Roman, or Comic Sans?

Similarly, your book will be judged on what kind of font it’s printed in. Perhaps not consciously — not many people can point to a book and go, “Oh, that’s in Garamond,” or “That looks like Caslon” — but the wrong font will make something feel off about the book.

But what makes something the “wrong” font? That’s where the other factors come into play.

2. Genre expectations

This is one of those things that you’ve probably never consciously noticed before, but once you do, you can’t not notice it. Different genres tend to be published in different types of fonts, and you want your font to reflect the contents of the story  as much as your cover and title do.

For example, a quick survey of my personal library shows me that speculative fiction uses a lot of Palatino, whereas YA contemporaries are often published in softer, more “playful” fonts like Century Book or Bembo. You can also never really go wrong with Garamond, the most “bookish” looking font of them all. But it’s not always necessarily the perfect font, either.

And don’t forget about typography on chapter headings! Age ranges and genres follow trends here, too, with YA and middle grade among the most creative, and literary fiction setting a high standard for refined understatement.

3. Readability

Of course all fonts are technically readable if they contain all the letters of the alphabet. Unlike handwriting, the letter A will appear the same no matter how tired you are when you hit the key on your keyboard. But the truth is some fonts are just easier to read than others. It’s why we usually publish books in serif fonts instead of sans-serif, and it’s why we make the letters bigger in kids’ books than in novels for adults.

Here, it’s important to consider function over form. Font size, line spacing, and margins are all key factors to making sure that the font you’ve chosen will read well to your target audience.

Some fonts just have a natural size they look best at, but will that make your book too slim or too chunky? If you’re targeting older readers, is the font too thin and “fussy” to be read without squinting? The more you take into account, the better your book will be.

4. Fatigue

Readability plays into this, but it’s important enough that I feel it’s worth a separate mention. Because one of the downsides of poor readability is that readers are likely to tire of reading your work sooner — or even develop eyestrain.

Let’s face it: a lot of things demand our attention these days. From work to families to keeping the house in order to the sweet siren song of social media, it can be hard to find time to read at all. The last thing you want to do is make your book cause physical discomfort. There’s nothing more likely to make people to put it down — and perhaps never pick it back up again.

Good typography, on the other hand, is comfortable on the eyes, and can play a surprisingly significant role in whether readers perceive your book as a slog or a joy to read. That’s why it’s crucial to choose your font wisely.

5. Reader mood

You know the genre expectations we talked about before? A big part of the reason those exist is because different fonts subconsciously convey different “moods.”

These are most noticeable in splashy fonts that you’d use more in titles than in text blocks — a futuristic sci-fi font, an elegant hand-lettering font — but even the fonts you’d format a whole book in can have an impact. Some are stuffy, some soothing, and some just kind of dull. It’s important for your designer to keep these differences in mind and understand how the font of the chapter headings works together with the font of the story, in order to create a professional product.

Remember: choosing good typography is a bit of an art, yes, but it’s also a marketing choice. And marketing is a subtle game. Everything from the layout of your local grocery store to the color of your laundry detergent bottle has an impact on people’s buying choices. Why should books be any different?

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Desiree Villena is a writer with Reedsy, a marketplace that connects self-publishing authors with the world’s best editors, designers, and marketers. She's very passionate about helping aspiring authors reach their dreams, and enjoys reading and writing short stories in her spare time.

Peter Ralph reviewed

“This is my first book by this author, but it will definitely not be my last. Mr. Ralph has taken a frightening and current issue, that of court appointed guardianships, and skillfully woven a thought-provoking, completely captivating, outrage-inducing work of fiction. The underlying concept of guardianships and their potential as instruments of legal theft and abuse has, sadly, become a widespread, yet fairly unrecognized, plague preying on the elderly segment of our population. Most people who read this book will probably think that this couldn’t possibly happen in reality but even a cursory search on the internet will lead to a vast wealth of information confirming this treachery as both real and ongoing. I applaud Mr. Ralph’s efforts at bringing this important issue to the attention of his readership. This is a well-written fast-paced story that will hold your attention from the first page to the last. The main character, Josh Kennelly, is a wonderfully likable veteran who goes the extra mile to help out a fellow vet when that man’s father falls victim to the guardianship trap. I have a feeling that this story will stay with you long after you’ve finished reading.

I was provided with a free advance copy of this book but decided to purchase a copy to start my Josh Kennelly collection and I am voluntarily offering this honest and unbiased review.”

5 Benefits of Writing And Why You Should Make It a Daily Habit

A guest post kindly contributed by freelance writer Angela Johnston.

Are you writing daily?

Writing can be a hobby that is incredibly beneficial for your everyday life.

You write to keep track of your ambitions, to improve your vocabulary, to get your story branded and published, or to maintain a journal of your day’s events or the on-goings in the world around you.

Below are some of the notable benefits of writing daily and the impact it can have in your life

1) A Wake-Up Call For Your Brain

If you have ever gone to work only to find yourself seated at your desk for several hours waiting for your mind to get with the program. That translates to lost time that you can never recover and if you are unfortunate to be forced to tackle anything, then you will have a tepid approach to handling the task.

Try and hit the ground running when you get up in the morning and prepare to head to your workplace. You can do this by sitting down and penning down your day’s agenda or playing a crossword puzzle as you sip your morning tea, coffee, or smoothie.

For instance, you can come up with writing assignment routine for your mornings in which you have topics on slips of paper that you pull out from a jar and write about what is on the selected slip

Conversely, you can subscribe to mailing lists and have a subject delivered in your inbox every morning. According to the hypnotherapist at AOTH, the objective is to get your brain’s gears turning early in the morning so that you are mentally awake as you head to the office. They explain that “by getting your mind going early, in turn, you will be able to stay focused, and you will be ready to handle anything that comes to your desk.”

2) Stream Of Consciousness Riddance

It is not common to wake up with a story to write in mind.

But you can pen down your first thoughts of the day and then work from there. It can be something as simple as “another wonderful Friday morning – the weekend loading; I am looking forward to the BBQ party this Sunday. I do hope my Saturday will set the right tempo.”

According to the relationship counsellors at Thinking Families, this can be an opportunity to vent your worries or frustrations that may have accumulated overnight. They explain that “this allows you to start your day on a clean slate. Moreover, writing down your thoughts will be an excellent way of self-exploration as you reflect on things and take a day off writing to read what you scribbled the last few days. It will help you identify some of the issues which popped up severally in your writing that you need to address so that they stop weighing your down.”

For instance, if you find that you start your day with some self-criticism, then you should put in more effort to appreciate and be kinder to yourself. Look at ways of starting your day on a positive note by thinking of positive affirmation worth writing about as you proclaim self-love.

3). Dream Recall

Your dreams may be a source of inspiration; therefore, consider keeping a dream journal by your bedside. You can then scribble down what you encountered in our dreamworld if you are startled into the waking world.

BONUS TIP: Jot down anything even if it is to state that you did not have any dreams.

Try to scribble what you can recall for your slumber’s meanderings, even if all you can remember are colours. It may help to gradually improve your ability to remember the details of your dreams and then you can start notices themes or patterns in your dreams.

4). Expanding And Maintaining Your Vocabulary

What you have but fail to use often loses its usefulness.

This also applies to your vocabulary. In this age in which tweeting and texting are the things that fuel how we communicate; people are increasingly encountering mental blocks when it comes to their word banks. It is the result of trying to condense thoughts and conversations into few words and character.

It is a culture that will birth problems when individuals must sit in a meeting, and all that comes to mind is cooked up jargon.

They most likely will ensure up using terms and phrases that are inappropriate for such a sitting. The same will be evident when they must write an assignment, and they end up spending much of their time go through a thesaurus in search of appropriate words.

Therefore, waking up to writing something down every morning can be a great way of expanding word bank and maintaining your vocabulary. You will find yourself fitting some of your words into your day’s written exchanges and leave people impressed.

5). Evening Contemplation And Relaxation

The demand of the day will have many people stress, and their minds preoccupied with how they will complete their duties. Such things will weigh us down. The only time, we get to enjoy a break from these responsibilities is when we are sleeping.

So, why not keep a journal or notepad on your bedside on which you can pen down your day’s thoughts and encounters? It can be a therapeutic platform on which you can vent, distress, and relax as you let go of your woes by acknowledging and writing them down. It will also help you enjoy better sleep.

Alternatively, you can opt to meditate or do some simple exercises or yoga poses. According to the Kinesiologists at Shen Ko Vitality, “exercise is vital in de stressing your body, especially after a long day of mental stress from work.”

In conclusion, writing daily is both therapeutic and enables a clearer mind moving forward. You’ve simply got nothing to lose with this easily adoptable habit.

If you’ve ever considered taking up this habit by writing a book, don’t hesitate to contact Working Type to help you design your book cover before getting it published!

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Written by: Angela Johnston

Recent Book Cover Designs

We’ve been busy designing new covers for lovely author and publisher clients, with a very broad range of subjects. Here are a few of them.

Promote Your Book with Persistence and the Power of Networking

We asked author Pat Kelly to describe her successful efforts to market her two books set on the Isle of Man (Shadow of the Wheel and Hedge of Thorns). There’s quite a bit of detail, but it is a testament to persistence and networking (and having two excellent books to sell)

When my book, Shadow of the Wheel was accepted for publication I was not a member of Facebook but joined at my publisher's suggestion.

I happily admit to being a complete computer nerd and had no knowledge about Facebook other than that people seemed to send each other photographs of what they were about to eat. However, I dutifully joined and asked one or two people I knew to be my friends. Most of these were family, but a few were people I had known when I lived in the Isle of Man. So after a few days, I had a whole twelve 'friends'. I looked amongst their friends and put in a 'friend' request to quite a few. Some accepted, some didn't and some asked 'who are you?' From the ones who accepted I put in requests to some of their contacts. So it mushroomed until I now have over 100 contacts.

The important thing was, who some of these new friends were and the actions they took for someone who was almost, and in many instances, a complete stranger.

As the book started in the Isle of Man and I know the Manxies love their island and its history, I joined a couple of groups on the Island and saw one or two names I knew, so put in 'friend' requests to them. Several of them, on hearing about Shadow of the Wheel' got on to Amazon straight away and actually bought a copy while we were still on Facebook chatting. They enjoyed the book and some of them shared a picture of the book along with some very flattering words with all their friends. One actually said 'It is a terrific book DOWNLOAD IT NOW!' Others who had read it invited me to join another Isle of Man group they were members of. So I am now in five Manx groups and the good thing about this is that there are Manx societies all over the world, who are also members of the Isle of Man groups. So this got the word out to the world about my book.

It was a bit like throwing a pebble into a pool and watching the ripples spreead and grow.

One lady who is the secretary of the Isle of Man Family History Society, got in touch with me because she wishes to do a write up about me in the society's journal which will be out November, after which she is going to organize a write up in the local papers about me and my books and also a piece on the local radio.

Since launching Shadow of the Wheel, I have done a huge edit on a book I had published on the Isle of Man in 1993. It is a true story, as told to me by my late mother in law, telling about her childhood during the 1st World War, in a village of about 20 residents, when a huge internment camp was built in the village to house 'alien internees'. It was made rather a mess of when it was originally published, but with a lot of patient help from Luke Harris I undid all the wrongs that were done to it originally and Luke designed a beautiful new cover for it.

I re-launched it in the middle of September and put a picture of it, with a few words of explanation, out to my Manx groups. Within two hours I had enquiries from South Africa, Zimbabwe, USA and Canada asking where they could buy the book. Presumably they are Manx expats now living in these countries.

I also friended (only because she bore the same name as my beloved sister) a young girl - sixty years my junior who lives nearby and is studying journalism and history at university. She has similar interests to me and we got on like a house on fire from the moment we met. We are now close friends, she has bought and read both my books. She wrote my life story and,said a lot of flattering things about my books and took a very nice photo of me sitting on my front steps with a copy of Shadow of the Wheel as one of her assignments for university, then shared this assignment with her almost 2000 Facebook friends, including links for buying my books. Ending with a comment that they were terrific books and advising her friends to buy them.

This, to me, shows the value of choosing carefully on Facebook, then putting in requests to likely looking 'friends, contacts of theirs - and so ad infinitum.

I addition to this my friends in the Lakes Entrance senior citizens club put of a little launching morning tea for me a the club and invited a reporter from the local paper to come and take a photo. She duly did this, then called out to my house twice to interview me and did a great article about my life's history and how I came into writing. Now that Hedge of Thorns has also been launched, she is going to gake some more photos and do another little write-up.

Update #1

I had an email on Friday from one of my friends in IOM who told me that her friend, Carol Tomlinson, had just sent her a message (tongue in cheek) telling her she had just finished reading her wonderful book and didn't know she had it in her. So Pat and I exchanged a few messages about it and I told her about Hedge of Thorns, etc and she said she was going to buy them both. The following day I had a friend request from Carol Tomlinson, who had seen Pat's and my exchange. Carol and I had some long chats about my books. She had bought Shadow to read on holiday in Italy and couldn't put it down, so now she'll have to buy another book for the rest of her holiday. She said she was enjoying it so much she was very sad when it ended and asked if I would be doing a sequel.

I told her about my other books - Beyond the Seas and that at some time I am possibly going to re-launch Smugglers. She says she is going to buy Hedge of Thorns when she gets home, so I suggested she should buy it from the Knockaloe Trust rather than Amazon. She also said she is going to buy another copy of Shadow to give to her friend — who lives in Laxey — for Christmas. When I opened up her page there was huge picture of Shadow of the Wheel and a very glowing report. One of her friends thanked her for the tip and said she had just bought it and another two said they were going to.

Then yesterday I had a message from a lady who bought it not long after it was launched, but at the time said she had a few in a queue in from of it waiting to be read. She had just finished it and said she cried at the end when Jos got off the train along with the rest of the family. She also put a big picture and write up about it and sent it to all her friends.

So it still seems to be moving well over there. In addition I sold two copies of Hedge and one of Shadow to two friend in my carer support group on Friday. It's all quite exciting.

UPDATE # 2

I just thought I would bring you up to date with my latest exploits. I decided to make today a day of running around all the little businesses I could think of to see if I could make any sales.

I started with the General Store in Swan Reach. The fellow there was very happy to take some of my books and have a go, though he did say he didn't really think they would sell there. But when I came to discuss money and how much his share would be, he just flapped his hand and said they didn't do that there. Any he sells he will just give me all the dough — to quote him. So let's hope he sells some.

Then I got to Bairnsdale and my first call was to a 'cafe' I just discovered a couple of weeks ago when a friend suggested we should meet there for a cuppa. It was only afterwards that I realised that they sold school supplies, stationery etc. there. So I decided to give them a try today. The first thing I saw when I walked in the door was a little stand of books and above it said 'LOCAL AUTHORS'. When I went in, books in hand and told the lady what I was there for I thought she was going to jump over the counter and hug me. No hesitation in saying she would have some of my books. She said she takes 20 per cent, which is $2 less than I was going to offer her, so I didj't argue. She then asked if I did events, which I haven't but would be willing to. She is very involved with the Bairnsdale Show and says they have a stand there which they invite local authors to bring their books to, and they get about 60,000 visitors to the show. She says there are also other events they invite authors to.

As you know, it was a stinking hot day, so I decided to have an iced coffee while I was there and there was a lady at another table. As Charlotte (the shop lady) was putting my books on the shelf this other lady said something to her and she took one of each over to her. Then she came back to me, told me the other lady was also an author and gave me her book to look at. The lady, Leanne, was actually a poet and photographer and her pictures were absolutely stunning - all local pictures.

When I'd finished my coffee I stopped to chat to her and we spent about half an hour discussing our masterpieces. She told me the secretary of the Bairnsdale Historical Society is Manx and she thought she would probably be very interested in Hedge of Thorns. When I got up to leave she told me she was going to buy Shadow of the Wheel herself and as I went out the door I looked around and sure enough, she was at the counter buying the book.

Charlotte asked to take a photo of me with the books to put on social media. In actual fact, she stood on one side of the 'local author' stand and I stood on the other side with a book each showing the sign between us. It looked good.

When I got home I found both ladies on facebook and requested to 'friend' them. They could both prove very useful contacts.

When I left there I went to the newsagent in the main street, but the boss was out and wouldn't be back for about an hour.and it was too hot to hang around. I had also been going to try two places in Paynesvile and the general stor in Metung, but again the heat was getting to me. I'll do them and the Newsagent another day.

A New Series for Peter Ralph

Writer of financial thrillers Peter Ralph is embarking on a new series featuring Josh Kennelly, a character first introduced in Fog City Fraud. The first book, Deadly Bequests is “set in New Orleans and is a scam about the elderly getting fleeced via their wills.”. The second book is The Guardians . Josh “receives a crazy call from a veteran of the Afghanistan war claiming that his father has been kidnapped by a guardian. Reluctantly, Josh gets involved and discovers the guardianship industry where judges, guardians, lawyers, and doctors, look after themselves, but not their wards. The forces that he’s trying to expose are all-powerful. Has he bitten off more than he can chew?”

We designed all three books to have a consistent identity and repeated elements.

Solving Writing Problems with Euan Mitchell

Euan Mitchell is a highly experienced editor and independent publishing expert who teaches at Swinburne University and also takes on private editing projects. His website provides further background information. He was interviewed on writing and editing for the Garret podcast. He specialises in Story design (all genres of novel and memoir), Young adult fiction (contemporary realism focus), Novel (commercial adult fiction), Memoir, Non-fiction (educational focus) and Short story (all genres). He has written a detailed guide for creating and marketing print and ebooks, available from Amazon. Here are some of his thoughts on authors and editing:

How does a writer know when their manuscript is ready to show publishers or readers?

This is a tough question to answer precisely, but new and emerging writers should not make the classic mistake of submitting unedited work to publishers. Too many new writers think a spellcheck is sufficient because a publisher will want to edit their manuscript anyway. But publishers want to spend as little money as possible on editing. Even though publishers know that a good edit can be the best way to add value to a book, editing takes time and editors typically work for an hourly rate. If you are self-publishing, then you don’t want your readers deriding your editorial efforts as substandard all over social media. There is a world of vocal armchair pedants out there!

Over the two decades I have been helping new and emerging writers to edit or rewrite their work to a publishable standard, I have found that a free sample edit of about 1,500 words from an extended manuscript is a good way to gauge how much editorial work is needed in total. Writers can then make an informed decision about whether or not to engage my services. Writers are usually pleased when I point out specifics that can be improved. This will typically include fixing some spelling, grammar and punctuation; however, often the sample edit will reveal other aspects to address, such as: lack of clarity, awkward transitions, ‘head-hopping’ points of view, weak dialogue, tautologies, clichés, and too much use of summary or stock character descriptions. The good news is that all these problems can be fixed. A careful edit or rewrite will ensure your ideas have the best chance of connecting successfully with publishers and readers. You can email Euan to discuss your writing project via euan@euanmitchell.com

Good News with Mal Walden — Book cover

Right in the middle of the Carlton Readings shop window, Mal and his book (Good News) do leap out at one somewhat… stand aside Walter Isaacson and Carole King. Published by Brolga Publishing, cover design by WorkingType.

The Legacy of Douglas Grant — Book Cover

John Ramsland often writes about eminent Aboriginal Australians, and in Douglas Grant he has found a fascinating subject. Survivor of an appalling massacre as a baby, raised by Scottish immigrants, then a volunteer for the Western Front, Grant’s life deserves attention and respect. We let his photograph speak for itself, with a faint background of a World War I battle scene. Published by Brolga Publishing.

Italian Bel Canto — Book Cover

Joseph Talia writes about great singers and their teachers, and the science of singing. We populated the cover of his latest book with luminaries from that world. from Dame Joan Sutherland back to Rossini and Farinelli. And in the background, an amazing piece of art from Rococo master Giovanni Tiepolo. Published by Australian Academic Press.

Thrill of the Chase — books by Ray Scott

Ray Scott was born in England, and for many years lived near Birmingham. Ray and his wife Mary emigrated to Australia in 1970. Ray worked in the insurance industry, in England and Australia, over 35 years and after retirement devoted his time to fiction writing.

 In 2012 he released his first novel, an e-book originally entitled “The Man Who Had Five Lives”, later re-issued as “The Fifth Identity”.  In 2014, a paperback “Cut to the Chase” was published, followed in 2017 by “The Wimmera Shoot”, another e-book. In 2019, a fourth e-book and paperback “Double Dutch” was released.Ray maintains a website here.

 Ray’s writing style is similar to top writers such as Desmond Bagley, Geoffrey Household and Eric Ambler. The books are racy and about ordinary people caught up in international or political intrigue by accident or design, who go on the run to avoid being arrested, or murdered to ensure their silence.

 “Double Dutch” includes an exciting chase through country Victoria and New South Wales. The leading character accidentally learns of an impending coup d’état in a nearby Pacific island nation, is kidnapped to ensure his silence, but escapes. Penniless and without transport, he endeavours to reach Canberra to warn ASIO of the coup.

Running a Facebook Ad Campaign to Market Your Book

Author promotional guru David Gaughran conducts a detailed run through of Facebook advertising when used for book promotion. Gaughran’s writing on the topic is always realistic and accessible, without some of the hard sell and rah rah on comparable American sites.

Author Trish George and her website

Independent author and outright character Trish George has an author website up, and it is quite well done. An inveterate traveler, Trish has been all over Australia and promoted her work along the way. Along with her works of fiction, she has also written several travel books and is quite a raconteur.

Authors Who Blog

Authors Cathy A and Cathy T Wilson maintain an informative blog (related to their book series “Lions and Lilies” set in medieval England and France). They post about the historical background to their books. A good resource for their readers and a useful promotional tool.

A Promotional Strategy for "Summer at Urchin's Bluff" by author Eliza Bennetts

On writing a series:

Writing in series is considered the way-to-go when it comes to romance. Romance readers are voracious! I attend the yearly RWA conferences and they often talk about the fact that some romance readers read 7-10 books a week! This means that when they find a set of characters or a world they enjoy, they want to keep reading.

As an author, it pays to have more books down the line to service this need. I was lucky to latch on to this pearl of wisdom while writing the first draft of Summer at Urchin's Bluff, so that allowed me to ensure there was scope to have a supporting character who will feature as the main character the next book, and so on for the following two books. I guess, in a way, writing in series is it's own form of promotion. Each book works to promote the next. Well, that's the plan anyhow!

My writing life:

I think like most of us, for me writing was always a hobby - something to get me out of my head when I was stressing about work or family or whatever. I've recently found myself with a little more time to write, and I'm loving it, but I'm yet to establish a routine around my writing. I've listened to podcasts and read books that say you should blank out some time each day to write (eg. 9 - noon). I should probably do that, but I'm loathe to, in case it sucks the fun out of it! I don't want it to feel like a chore, but I guess if I want to do this as a career, I might need to consider it. At the moment I write every day, but not at a specific time, or for a specified length of time.

Marketing and Promotion:

So, my plan with marketing is really to take it slow. I do plan to look at Facebook ads and Amazon ads (I have purchased the KDP Rocket software) for the promotion of Summer at Urchin's Bluff, but not in an extensive way. I figure once I have more books on my shelf, any money I invest in advertising will be that much more effective. I do plan to look at BookBub, but not for book one, or two for that matter. I know they're hard to get, so I might wait to start trying (maybe once all four books in the Seasons series are released). As far as social media goes, I'm only active on Facebook. I know it's better to be everywhere, but with kids and work, and the whole writing-the-books thing, I don't have the time to service a ton of social accounts. This is an area I need to become more confident in. Every time I'm about to post (even just on that one platform) I'm always thinking, 'is anyone going to care about this? Is it spamy?' (not a word, but you know what I mean). I do know that building a mailing list is super important, so I'm working on that but it's slow going. I'm okay with things taking a while to build. I want to be doing this in 20 years time, so being number 1 from day 1, with book 1 is not really my goal (I mean, I wouldn't be upset if it happened!). I guess what I'm saying is that everything I do around marketing and promotion, for me, needs to be about steadily building a readership.

Summer at Urchin's Bluff is a contemporary seasoned romance (seasoned is the term we use in the romance world for a heroine over 40). It is available for pre order now across most platforms.

Available from these outlets.

Sailor to Radio Lineman to CEO to Author — Jim Pratt and His Books

Scottish born James Pratt, the son of a coal miner, is a man from humble beginnings who rose to the top of his chosen profession. At the age of 15 he, (as he describes it), ran away to sea and joined the British Merchant Navy before settling in Australia at the young age of 18.  

 He worked as a radio lineman in outback Queensland for several years then moved into sales and marketing, then General Management.  By the time of his retirement, he had reached the very top of his profession as a Telecommunications Executive.  

 He held several senior positions, including, Chairman of the globally renowned GSM Association, was the founding CEO of Peoples Telephone Company Limited, a substantial mobile telephone network operator in Hong Kong, (now China Mobile Hong Kong), a former Managing Director with Telstra and the President & CEO of GlobeTrac Inc. He served as a non-executive director on several boards until his retirement.

 He honed his writing and communication skills on business reports and strategy papers and had numerous articles published in various global Telecommunications magazines.

 Well travelled, he has been to almost 100 countries, meeting some of the most famous and influential people around the globe.  

His first stop inside a departures lounge at any airport was always the bookstore where he would purchase a novel, usually an action thriller. He read almost everything by Le Carre, Ludlum, Forsyth, Cussler, Clancy, Harris and many more, most with enjoyment.  However, over time, he concluded that he could write more entertaining stories than those he was now buying to read on those long flights and was finding it increasingly hard to find a book he could relax with and enjoy.  So, upon retiring, he turned his hand to writing his first novel, Telekom, which he released several years ago with quite some success.  He has just released his second novel, The Sleeper Project and had started work on his third, to be called, “Cassidy’s Conflict.”

Author Pat Kelly and her books

Pat Kelly writes well-plotted and thoroughly engaging historical novels populated by believable characters. Although her characters often face great challenges, she maintains a touch of humour and optimism. She is skilled at evoking lost eras and the way people saw the world.

Pat Kelly was born in Glasgow in 1938. When she was just over a year old her father was called up to serve his country and she barely saw him until she was about eight years old.

Perhaps as an escape, in early primary school Pat took to writing stories, which her teacher used to read out to the class.

In her teens and early twenties Pat wrote several books, sent them to publishers with a stamped return envelope, but never received any of them back, so had to retype them to send them to the next publisher. None were ever acknowledged or published.

Eventually, Pat married and was too involved with raising children to have time to write. In 1968 she arrived in SouthAustralia, with four children, as a £10 Pom. After divorcing after over twenty-five years of marriage Pat was contacted by a Manxman, Mike, she had known in her teens. They married and returned to the Isle of Man to live.

After Mike retired, in 1993, they followed the summers with six months in each country. While in the Isle of Man they ran a daffodil farm and were well known on the Island for their roadside stall, with an honesty box, selling daffodils and plants.

In 2014, the travel was becoming too much, so they moved to Australia permanently to live in Lakes Entrance, a beautiful, peaceful little town in Victoria.

When she moved to the Isle of Man, Pat left all her family in Australia. Mikes mother Lou, a wonderful lady took her new daughter in law under her wing and they had great conversations.

 Lou had grown up in a tiny village in the West of the Isle of Man. The population of this village was around 20, but when the great war started an internment camp was built which eventually housed around 25,000 ‘enemy aliens’. As Lou told Pat about her childhood and this huge camp looming over her tiny village, Pat realised she was listening to history, a lot of which no one else alive could tell – and that if Lou died, all that history would be lost forever. So she wrote it's all down and turned it into a book called ‘Hedge of Thorns’ that was a great success on the island.

The research for this sparked Pat's interest in Manx history And she then went on to write a second book, ‘Smugglers Urchins’, set in the smuggling era on the island.

Her next foray into Manx history was the famous Laxey water wheel, resulting in ‘Shadow of the Wheel’.

Pat is currently working on a story which finds 14-year-old Manx girl being transported for 7 years for stealing a loaf of bread. She sails with the second fleet in a ship that was nicknamed ‘the floating brothel’.

Ellen Hansa and her novel, Esther's Violin

Cover note: The background image is Ellen’s father’s ex libris, flipped to make the letters semi-abstract forms. Typeface is Mostra Nuova. Body text is Arno Pro.

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May it be a camera, a lump of clay or a sheet of paper, Ellen Hansa manages to create a story. At the age of fifteen she tried to start a career as a photo journalist, an impossible task for a young woman in the late 1950’is in war-torn Vienna. She studied photography and with her masters’ degree under her collar, tried again. Having been rejected once more, Ellen spends the next years in photographic studios both in Vienna, Oslo and later in Melbourne.

After her marriage and three children, Ellen tried her luck turning clay into pots. A few years later Stanyers’ Pottery was born and for many years the business flourished.

After her husband’s death Ellen withdrew to her bush block. A writing group in the local Neighbourhood House drew her back into society. She started telling stories again and compiled a number of short stories called “Stories around the Table”. Then she gave herself the big challenge to write and publish a fictional novel, Esther’s Violin.

Her work can be viewed here.

Seedpod, ceramic sculpture by Ellen Hansa

Cover Designs — Irradiated White House and the Secret Life of Words

A sinister mushroom cloud, the White House gently glowing in the radioactive light, a menacing submarine — what more could a reader want?

Another radioactive cloud, skippy, Sanuel Johnson and a medieval scholar — the first time they have all appeared on one cover…