I was talking to someone today who told me there was one skill to selling million dollar books. There might be, but none of us knows what it is. The price pledge of this knowledge? Five weeks of your time for training and five thousand dollars. You heard me right. To be fair, I did cry a little because there is no way I will ever have $5000 to pay for SEO training. Which is essentially what I think it is from what I was told. I could be wrong, but I won’t know. I’ll be too busy trying to figure it out on my own. If altruism and prayer works, maybe the course will drop into my lap. Don’t get me wrong, I would still give it a shot. Test, retest, learn and test again. That’s how I’ve gotten to where I am. In a place to share.
I have a passion to help authors. Book publishing is mostly a mystery to new authors and sometimes not-so-new authors, and that makes it scary. I want to shed light on the process and help more authors truly succeed. Do you want to write a bestseller? I do. Do you want to know WHAT to put in your newsletter once you get your list? (I actually just answered this in my blog this week) Would you like to know what ads work and which don’t? My next launch is set to test five of them. Stay tuned to learn which ones. Have you been surprised at the amount of marketing it takes to keep your book afloat? YES.
It’s crazy, the way we struggle to keep ourselves under “one million” in Amazon’s rankings, ever dreaming of the break that will shoot us up to number one. Well, I am working on it. Through trial and error, and by absorbing all the information I can from other people who are already making it work. I am going to figure it out for all of us. I thought I had made a discovery, and in June, my second book launched as a #1 New Release. But I didn’t know how to keep it there. I’ve spent this year scouring the internet, watching videos, filling a notebook (or two), learning how to do it.
I’m going to test my new method with the launch of my third book in March 2020. If you want to know what I’m doing to get there, I’m blogging the journey in my series, “Journey to a Bestseller,” which is currently about my WIP. It’s a dark YA steampunk novel. Though I write about the creation of my WIP, I also talk about marketing for my two published books, as well as editing and launching my third. There’s a little bit for everyone.
If it flops, then we all have the diary to look back on and maybe one of us can figure out what went wrong, and try again. BUT, if my launch in March is successful, meaning I write a bestseller, or a book that stays on the first page for more than a month, I will try it again with the WIP and see if it works twice. When that happens, I’ll know I have a repeatable formula that I can share. That’s when you benefit. (If you truly don’t learn a thing from reading my journey :^D)
It will take me awhile and I might need help, but I plan to put together a course that goes from getting ideas to how to write a good book to how to self publish, as well as how to query and how the traditional publishing method works, as well as self-publishing. Then I want to devote a large section on how to market, because all authors have to market.
Maybe you’re thinking, yeah right. What makes her the authority on anything? I’m not. But I was a literary agent for a few years, then a literary consultant. Now I’m an associate editor at a small publishing house, and I’ve been an author all along. So, I have learning experiences from a lot of perspectives in publishing. And I have learned a lot.
What needs to happen for all of this to work? You’ve got it. I need you. I need readers to review my third book before launch. I am told it can stand alone. I don’t know. You tell me. I need at least ten reviews before March 22nd, 2020 to be able to purchase the ads I want for launch. I will share what they are when it comes time to set them up. My success with this experiment hinges on these reviews, so I’m asking everyone. Here is the first (and only) review of the book so far:
“If you have read books 1 and 2 of the Freedom Fight Trilogy then you have been waiting with baited [sic] breath for this book. If not, then you might just want to read them after this one. Picking up where Queen of Hearts [The Queen’s Heart] left you, It takes you through some intense emotions as the heroes Keron and Fale prepare for the final rescue of Fale’s people. There is training, lots of magic, lots of intrigue and lots of battling. There are plenty of people who meet them along their journey and every one they meet helps them in some way. There is a magical beast or two to add more suspense to the story. Lots of action and lots of love too. I found that I could not put down the book once I started reading it. It is so packed with action that there was no place where I could say, “Ok time for bed now. I’ll finish it tomorrow.” A must read. The trilogy would make a wonderful gift for a young reader. My granddaughter loved the series too.”
~Elouise
And that is from the beta version! I’m so excited. I do have room for more beta readers if you would like to critique and edit a free copy, but I will still ask for a review of your thoughts. Don’t wait for someone else to do it. If you want to help me help you, all it takes is your review. Oh, a rhyme! The book is on pre-order now and you can take a look here:
Fale doesn’t know why she has visions of the queen’s past life. All she knows is that her magic becomes dangerously faulty every time she sees into the past. Through the visions, the mystery is solved regarding Effailya’s banishment and life of slavery; the reasons of her heated parting with Gryndoll are revealed, as well as who the queen’s secret lover was. And how that could possibly relate the Source Wizard to the Queen of Mages, herself.
TheSource Wizard Gasten sends out his best efforts, but the new queen stays one step ahead of him. He may have found a way to send his spell to her. And if not, he’s found the old wizard’s journals, which are sure to give her weaknesses.
The Final Rescue is a face-paced adventure as the wizards and mages race toward their mutual destruction. A strong female lead not only survives her dystopian society… she solves the mystery of a hidden war, only to cause a new one, then battles both sides to rule it herself. It’s a conclusion for fans who fell in love with The Hunger Games, Divergent, and The Reader series. If you’re hooked on genre-blending, suspenseful, fantasy romance novels, with adventure, you’ll love The Final Rescue!
I’m in the process of setting up the paperback version, so you can leave your reviews on the paperback page (you can’t leave reviews on ebook pre-orders), because it shares reviews with the ebook. I can send it to you in any format you need (i.e. docx, ePUB, mobi, pdf). I am very appreciative for your contributions in this. If you review it soon enough, your name may be in the back of the book with my other betas. The book is a young adult science fantasy/romance. I hope the story interests you, and if not, would you please please please pass it on? My success could become your own success, or someone you care about. And you are more than welcome to join in and read the journey as it happens once a week, right here at:
[Update 9/6/20: I did have the number of reviews I needed for my ads thanks to you, and the book remained a #1 New Release for nearly two months. I have discovered, however, that being in KDP means I cannot receive the “bestseller” tag because KDP is “free” to the reader, so I’m not technically “selling” anything. I don’t think that’s quite fair, but they didn’t ask me. So, things are good. The book is doing well. I’m still figuring out some things, but I know how to rank well now.] And it now has a new cover. Check it out:
If you like YA fantasy adventures with a mix of horror, scifi, wizards, swords and sorcery, you’ll love this book!
Jennifer Haskin 