Tag Archives: Superhero in the Making

Accidents Happen – And Then You Pick Yourself Up and Walk Again

It has been a long time – too long – since I’ve chatted with you all here. I’ve missed you!

If you didn’t know what happened, why I disappeared, it’s because my husband John was in a motorcycle accident five months ago. That completely changed my life. Suddenly, my world was about hospitals and surgeries, and then being an at-home caregiver. (Boy, do I have more respect for all you parents and caregivers out there!)

Even as John was healing, there was little he could do with a multi-broken leg. We recently moved out of our apartment and I had to do nearly all the packing. John helped by taping boxes from his chair, and packing up dishes while sitting in the kitchen. But that was a chore I hope to never have to repeat.

As you can imagine, with all my time taken up with taking care of John, and then driving him back and forth to work when he returned (we owned a stick-shift until a couple weeks ago, so John couldn’t drive), the amount of time I had to work felt miniscule. The second superhero book, Superhero in the Making, had to be put on hold (though it should be out later this year). I did meet my deadline for getting Unexpected Superhero out on audiobook in May, though. Very exciting! And I managed to get my booth up at WonderCon and Cherry Capital Comic Con. At least I was able to make some of my commitments.

Life isn’t back to normal yet, but we’re getting there. I hope to stay in touch with you here at least a couple times a month. Please forgive me that my web site has some issues right now. I’ll fix them as soon as I can. But I figure that getting back to work writing books and stories for you to read is better! 🙂

I can’t wait to share some fun things with you over the next few weeks. Progress is being made, and there’s nothing more fun than sharing it with friends!

Meanwhile, enjoy these last days of summer. If you’re looking for something to read, remember that “Superhero in Disguise” is a free short story that starts the Adventures of Lewis and Clarke series. And if you joined Kindle Unlimited, you can read Unexpected Superhero for free.

Now – back to work with me! 🙂

My Results Using Ads and Specials

Most writers are curious about what is and isn’t working for other writers when it comes to selling books. I’m grateful for what others have been willing to share, so it’s only fair to share in return. Even though my results are a bit embarrassing.

I’ve only bought ads three times. I bought an ad last year with The Wordsmith Journal Magazine (online) for Little Miss Lovesick. After one month, I had zero new sales. Ouch.

In August, while Unexpected Superhero was enrolled in the KDP Select program (meaning it was only for sale on Amazon for the first 90 days), I took advantage of the program’s free days option and made the book free for five days in a row at the end of a conference I was attending. I also bought an ad from BookBub that appeared on the first day of the promotion.

There were a whopping 17,561 free downloads during those five days! Over 10,000 copies were downloaded the first day, which I attribute primarily to the BookBub ad. During the next two weeks, I sold only 24 more copies when the book went off sale (back to $3.99). Then the sales dropped back to the 0-3 per week average that has been more common for my books so far.

A month or two ago, I dropped the price of Unexpected Superhero from $3.99 to $2.99 to see if I could see a change in sales. There might have been a slight increase. At 0-3 sales per week, it’s a bit hard to say. 🙂

My third promotion-with-paid-advertisement was last week. I dropped the price on Little Miss Lovesick and promoted it with 19 other lovely romance authors and their books last Friday. I also took out a then-free ad from eBookSoda, a newer email list like BookBub that advertises free and reduced-price books. (The ads were free, then $5, and I’m sure they’ll keep increasing in price as they grow their list. The problem with this ad is that I don’t know if it went to 100 people, 1000, or 20,000.)

I dropped the price from $2.99 to 99 cents a week before the promo with Smashwords so it would be 99 cents at the other outlets by the day of the promo. I decreased the price on Amazon two days before, and it went into effect the day before. I saw that I sold one copy on Amazon a day or two before the promotion, then two more copies total during the weekend of the promotion and ad.

That’s it – 3 sales. At the high end of “usual” for me.

Little Miss Lovesick got a new (second) cover a few months ago, but it’s barely changed the sales. Unexpected Superhero got a new (second) cover at the end of March, too early to tell if it has affected sales yet. I took out another eBookSoda ad (the free ad that went to $5 when I did it this time) for Sunday, May 4 (my third choice date, Fantasy category, same as last year’s BookBub ad). I’ll leave Superhero at its current $2.99 price and see if anything happens when it’s not on sale but advertised.

And that’s about all I know so far. My second superhero book, Superhero in the Making, was to be ready next week for WonderCon, and which I expected to help sales of the first book. But my husband’s motorcycle accident and injuries trumped anything and everything that used to be on my To Do list. 🙂

I’ll keep you updated so you get a well-rounded view of self-publishing and advertising. (It’s less embarrassing to write about your successes, so there are a lot more of those stories out there.) It would appear that my experience underscores what other successful writers have said about success coming after you have several books out. Unfortunately, “life” has thrown a wrench in making that happen soon, but as the Brits (used to) say, Keep Calm and Carry On.

And keep writing! 🙂

My Writing Process – Blog Tour

Thanks so much to Jennifer Brassel for inviting me to join the blog tour. 🙂 Jennifer’s blog can be seen here. Jen and I both have stories in the romance anthology, Moonlit Encounters, and her book Secret Reflection is a modern Gothic tale complete with ghosts, romance, and an unsolved crime.

My Writing Process

What am I working on? Right now, I am finishing up the second book in the Adventures of Lewis and Clarke series, Superhero in the Making. At the end of book one, Unexpected Superhero, Tori has decided she definitely wants to pursue life as a superhero. But it’s harder than it looks. On top of everything else – family issues, secrets uncovered, and secrets to keep hidden – there’s another woman trying to catch Joe’s attention. Tori is trying to keep in mind that undercover superhero work is a job like any other, and Joe is a professional. But can she trust him?

How does my work differ from others of its genre? The Adventures of Lewis and Clarke is about superheroes living their daily lives as our next door neighbors. It’s about love and marriage, friendships, family, and trying to save the world one person at a time. It’s also about the battle between good and evil, and constantly begs the question – am I up for the task? It’s romantic comedy meets urban fantasy. I really enjoy writing this series and I hope to continue for several books to come.

Why do I write what I do? I love writing about people in love because I’m in love! 😀 But I think it’s more interesting to see the ups and downs and sideways parts of love, not just the happy moments. Falling in love and getting married is awesome, but nothing prepares you for what comes next. It’s hard! But it’s so worth it. Add that to the fact that I am amazed at how God created us to be strong, good, loving people and yet the world and the dark forces around us keep knocking us down so that we’re weak, selfish, and greedy, and there is a lot of room for stories in there! I’m trying to write about both of these elements in my superhero series.

How does my writing process work? Well, that depends entirely on my deadline! LOL! Right now, I am writing six days a week, 8-12 hours a day to finish this book in time for WonderCon. I’ve taken time away to write at a timeshare several times recently, and over the years, because I can focus on just writing. I usually start with the big idea and boil it down to six or eight main points, then whittle those down to a dozen or so scenes each, then create 3×5 scene cards that I spread out on the floor looking for holes in the story. Once I’ve got the first quarter of the story worked out, I start writing based on the scene cards. Then I look at the second quarter, see if anything needs to be changed because of what I wrote in the first part, tweak the scene cards and write the second quarter. Repeat for the last two quarters of the book. Then I talk to my editors (I have two, Marcy and Sarah) about plot problems, etc. It’s intense and exhausting, but I wouldn’t trade it to do anything else. (Though I’m really looking forward to a vacation soon!)

I hope you found this fun and interesting. Maybe you learned a little something about me that you didn’t know. It was fun giving you a glimpse into my world. 🙂

If you’d like to read about another of my Aussie friends with a story in Moonlit Encounters, check out Coleen Kwan‘s My Writing Process blog here. Coleen Kwan writes both contemporary and steampunk romance. She lives in Sydney, Australia with her partner and two children. When she isn’t writing she enjoys avoiding housework, eating chocolate, and watching Criminal Minds.

And now – back to writing!

My Books Are Free Thru Saturday – YAY!

Hi friends! I’ve been so busy writing Superhero in the Making that I haven’t been able to keep up with my email. Turns out, Smashwords is having a big promotion – Read an Ebook Week. The very cool thing is that I could put one or more of my books on sale at 25%, 50%, or 75% off, or I could make them FREE!

Guess what I chose? 😀 I just made them free tonight! When you hit the BUY button, use the coupon code RW100 to get a 100% discount.

If you or your friends haven’t read Little Miss Lovesick or Unexpected Superhero yet, now is the time to pick them up. You can download any file type you need – the MOBI file for Kindles, the EPUB for NOOKs and nearly every other reader, and even a PDF if that’s your preference. (You could even get one of each.)

Since Unexpected Superhero is book 1 in the Adventures of Lewis and Clarke series, and Superhero in the Making (book 2) comes out next month, you may find the second book more fun to read if you’ve read the first. 🙂

And “Superhero in Disguise” is the short story prequel to book one. It’s free all the time (’cause I like you). You can click on the book cover on the sidebar to the right to download it from Amazon, or you can download it here from Smashwords in any format you want.

Please tell your friends. The Smashwords sale ends Saturday at midnight!

Comikaze, Here I Come

I’m excited to announce that I will have a table at Comikaze this year! Yay!

Comikaze is Stan Lee‘s comic book and pop culture expo, and is held annually in Los Angeles. This is only the third or fourth year, and already the attendance is close to 50,000 people!

I will not only have Unexpected Superhero and Superhero in the Making available in paperback at the con, but I will also launch the as-yet-untitled third book in the Adventures of Lewis and Clarke series that weekend! Woo-hooo!!

Comikaze is October 31 – November 2, 2014. I hope to see you there!

Melissa T Wins “Be a Character in My Superhero Book” Contest!

Thank you to everyone to who entered my “Be a Character in My Superhero Book” contest! There were lots of entries and so many cute ideas for characters. I’m glad it wasn’t a contest where I had to choose the best one because I wouldn’t have been able to choose just one. LOL!

As promised, I used the random number generator on Random.org to choose the winner. The lucky number was 8. I went down the list of entries and found the eighth one and the winner is –

MELISSA T FROM SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA!

Melissa, who also goes by Mel, said her character can be called Amazing, because that’s what her friends call her. Then she added a wink smiley. 😉 Okay, Melissa, you got it! And because the name has a positive connotation, I’m going to name one of the minor superheroes or a superhero wannabe MelAmazing!

Because there were so many good entries, I couldn’t help myself, I clicked the random number generator button again! The next lucky number was 1. And the first person to enter the contest was –

JERRY M FROM WYOMING! (I think Wyoming, I know it’s somewhere in the West!)

Jerry has the nickname Skunk because of his white hair patch. Perfect name for a bad guy’s second-in-command, don’t you think? If that’s okay with you, Jerry, I’d love to name him Skunk!

And because I just couldn’t not hit the button again, a third number came up! Number 6. And the sixth entry was –

BRIONICA B FROM MENIFEE, CALIFORNIA!

Brionica also goes by Brie or B. One of my superheroes, Hayley, owns a nursery – which makes sense because her power is over plants. Her assistant manager has become an important part of Hayley’s business with lots of great ideas. And she just might start suspecting Hayley is Green Thumb in this book or the next. The assistant manager’s new name is Brie!

YAY!!! This was so fun! I hope you all enjoyed it, whether you won this time or not. I’ve decided to run this contest for the next superhero book, too. That one will be out in November. I’ll again pick three winners to be minor characters in the book. To be eligible for the contest, be sure to sign up for my newsletter here on the right.

(A reminder: the only reason they have to be minor characters is because I need to be careful not to get sued for having “your name” do something awful. 🙂 I happen to know Jerry/Skunk, so I think he’ll be fine with his namesake being a bad guy – but not a villain! – but I’ll still get written permission from all of the winners.)

CONGRATULATIONS, WINNERS! 😀 Look for your names in Superhero in the Making coming out in April!

More Superhero Books Coming!

Hi guys!

I’ve been thinking for a couple of months that I might make a change to my writing/publishing schedule. Due to some personal difficulties last year, I wasn’t able to finish and publish my romantic comedy, Love at the Fluff and Fold, on time. In order to have my next superhero book, Superhero in the Making, ready for WonderCon and Cherry Capital Comic Con this year, I had to put Fluff and Fold on the shelf temporarily.

Once Superhero in the Making is done, I’ll start working on the next book, but which one? The problem with working on the Strays of Loon Lake romantic comedy series at the same time I’m writing the Adventures of Lewis and Clarke superhero series is that it could mean as much as a year between books in a series, even if I’m writing two books a year. Waiting like that isn’t much fun for those of us who love to read. 🙂

So I took off my author hat and put on my publisher hat and made a decision that I think will make more readers happy. (That’s you! I work to write stories to please you!) I’m going to keep writing more books in the Adventures of Lewis and Clarke series for the next year or two. Yay!

Look for Superhero in the Making, book two, in mid-April. Then book three should be out by the end of October, and book four next April. I might get them written and out to you faster than that, but that’s the schedule for now.

If you haven’t read book one yet, Unexpected Superhero is now on sale for $2.99. And the prequel, Superhero in Disguise, is a free short story. Click the link to the right, or download it from your favorite ebook retailer.

I’ll show you the new covers as soon as they’re ready. Now I just have to think up titles for the next books! Any ideas? I’m all ears. 😀

Getting Away

I’m excited to say I am not home this week. I’m not connected to the Internet. I can’t answer email unless I try to do it on my phone (too much trouble and hurts my thumbs). Why?

I’m taking a week away from home to work madly on my new book, Superhero in the Making. Yay! John gets to play Xbox as much as he wants, and I don’t have to stop to eat or pay bills or do laundry or anything. Yay!

So if you’ll excuse me, it’s back to writing with me. I’ll post a picture of the new book covers as soon as I can. I can’t wait to show you!

Happy week to you! 😀

Be a Character in My Superhero Book

I’ve got a special fun promotion for my newsletter subscribers this month! Sign up for my newsletter by 10pm PT this Saturday, February 8, and you’ll have an opportunity to be a character in my new novel, Superhero in the Making.

This month’s newsletter will go out on Sunday, and everyone who replies to the newsletter will be entered to win. Newsletter subscribers only, so click on the subscribe button to your right!

Good luck! 😀

A Contest to be in My Next Book

With help from my friend, Lauralyn, I finally got the MailChimp newsletter figured out. Whew! First one that actually LOOKS like a newsletter goes out today. Yay!

Now that I can stay in touch with you more regularly (about once a month), I wanted to find fun things to do together. So how would you like to be one of the characters in my book? 🙂

If you sign up (or have already signed up) for my newsletter, I’ll have a contest in the next issue for one lucky winner to be randomly chosen to appear in Superhero in the Making, book 2 in the Adventures of Lewis and Clarke series. I’ll rename one of the secondary characters with your first name and put your full name in the acknowledgements. Cool!

Feel free to tell your friends, re-Tweet this post, or share my link to this post that is on my Facebook page! The more, the merrier!

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My Writing Process

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