Kindle News and Cover Reveal/Launch Day Help Request

Last week I did my first free promotion on Kindle Select. At the beginning of the week I was hoping for a couple of hundred downloads a day, which would mean around 1000 by the end of the week. I had no idea whether I would achieve this figure. I needn't have worried. By the end of the week, Passing Time was downloaded 851 times. Not quite the 1000 I hoped for (I'll explain more about that in a minute), but still a great figure. If only 5% of those readers leave me a review, that's potentially 42 reviews. As I'm sure most writers will agree, reviews are like lifeblood when it comes to book sales.

Now back to the 851 downloads. During the five free days I promoted Passing Time in the following ways:

On my blog.
Other bloggers (thank you to everyone who helped!).
Books sites promoting free Kindle reads.
Twitter.
Facebook posts and photo teasers.

Apart from my fellow writers who helped blog, tweet, and FB, I think one of the most important tools was my Passing Time Facebook page. I paid £7.00 to promote a post announcing my book was free on Kindle between May 13th to 17th. As some of you may know that £7.00 is slowly depleted as the amount of people who view the post increases. And it's not just people who have liked my FB page who see it, their friends do as well. The reason I believe the promoted post played such a key part was because I was averaging 220 downloads a day until my £7.00 was used up by the Thursday morning. That figure dropped to around 100 for the Thursday and Friday. Coincidence?

Of course I could have paid for an actual advert, which might have brought in countless downloads. But I could not justify the expense for a freebie promotion. What about you? Have you offered a book or story for free? How did you promote it? What worked and what didn't?

While I'm on the topic of Kindle and freebie promotions, Mark Knight's Blood Family: Quest for the Vampire Key is FREE this week. Grab your copy of his riveting vampire read between May 20th to 24th.

Amazon
Amazon.co.uk









Taking Time Cover Reveal and Launch Day

My science fiction short story collection, Taking Time, will be published July 15th.  I will be working on final edits during June, and the cover is currently being re-designed after I had a major rethink and changed some of the stories. I'm really excited and can't wait to share it with you.

As before, I am asking for help for the cover reveal and launch day. However, I have made the decision not to do a blog tour this time. A tour takes a considerable amount of time and effort, and I'm also working on a science fiction serial that starts in September. I want to conscentrate my full efforts on it as soon as possible. So, I only need help with the following:

June 17th Cover Reveal
July 15th Launch Day

If you can't do the exact date, posting any time afterwards would be just as helpful.

If you can help, please leave a comment below or email me at the usual address. As always, if there is anything I can help you with don't be afraid to ask. Don't forget to call back this Wednesday, when science fiction and alternate history writer, Sharon Bayliss, will be this week's Speculative Fiction Writer. Until then, happy writing.

Untethered Realms, Christine Rains, & Laura Eno

A couple of weeks ago I had the honour of being invited by Mary Pax to join Untethered Realms (UR), a group of speculative fiction writers. Their motto is, 'tap into worlds, wings, and spec fic things'. They are an amazing bunch of writers and friends. The UR website is currently under construction but still worth a peek. We're also on Twitter and Facebook.

Two of my fellow UR members, Christine Rains and Laura Eno, have released new books this week and I'm thrilled to be sharing them with you.

 

Blurb

Having fallen for her gorgeous neighbor might not be so bad if Harriet McKay wasn't in her hideous banshee form every time Kiral saw her. Such is her curse. True, he's a vampire struggling with a drug addiction, but he's a good soul. Yet no one could love a cursed witch, especially one not even her cats respect.

After having a vision of Kiral's death, Harriet makes it her mission to save him. Never before has she attempted to change fate, but so strong is her love.

Kiral Ozdemir struggles to make it through every day. The craving for blood laced with drugs directs his every thought until he tastes Harriet's potent blood. The magic immediately addicts him, but she disappears. He's desperate to find her, racing blindly into a city in chaos.

How can Harriet convince Kiral to see past her vile appearance and return her love? If only she can force him to listen to reason coming from a raving crone, perhaps she can save him from the demons hunting him and from himself.

Amazon
Amazon.co.uk

Author Bio 

Christine Rains is a writer, blogger, and geek mom. She has four degrees which help nothing with motherhood, but make her a great Jeopardy player. When she's not writing or reading, she having adventures with her son or watching cheesy movies on Syfy Channel. She's a member of Untethered Realms and S.C.I.F.I. The 13th Floor series is her first self-published series. She has seven novellas and twenty-one short stories published.
 
Website

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Facebook

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Goodreads

Blurb

Archaeologist David Alexander investigates the cave where his father disappeared and hurtles into another world, one filled with magic and bizarre creatures. The mad ravings in his father’s journals of icemen and dragons may not be fantasies after all.

Convinced his father may still be alive, David begins a treacherous journey to find him and discover a way home. Along the way, he encounters a few unlikely friends. A Dreean warrior, a beautiful thief and a satyr join him as he searches.

David’s arrival into this new world sets off an explosive chain reaction of events. Faced with powerful adversaries and few clues, he may not get the chance to rescue his father before disaster strikes, condemning both of them to death. Or worse.

Amazon
Amazon.co.uk


Author Bio

Laura Eno lives in Florida with a very tolerant husband, three skulking cats and two absurdly happy dogs. After spending years immersed in English literature courses, she now writes novels late at night with the help of muses from the underworld.

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Twitter

 

Two more books to add to my TBR list! Don't you love Laura's author picture? I do. That's it for this week. I'll be back on Monday. Have a great weekend!