For me (personally, not for the group) I find that my Goodreads reviews give me the most sales. Yes, sales. Does that mean they do the most good? I don’t know, listen for a second and then tell me what you think.

Whenever I get a good GR review, there is an automatic bump in my sales. Every time.  I don’t even have to check if there’s a new review any more. This is a valid statement for me 100% of the time.

When I get a good Amazon review, there is no bump. Never.

But, here’s the Catch-22: I do believe that when someone finds your Amazon book page, if there are no reviews (or no good, articulate reviews) they may back away from trying you out.

So, while I don’t get sales from all those great Amazon reviews (and Amazon reviewers have been  very good to me. Very kind with some great insightful, topical reviews,) I do believe if those reviews weren’t there backing up the reader’s original source…well, I can see people walking away very easily.

For me, I think GR works for several reasons. First, this book is a short. GR readers seem up to giving shorts a chance. I’ve seen a lot of other writers with shorts get negative Amazon reviews that state “this was short” — yes, that’s why the Product Description said (sometimes as many as three times) this is a short story. I always feel bad for both the author and the reader in that situation.

There are two things GR does that I think furthers great reviews. When a reviewer has built a following – when she’s gotten to the point where people trust her opinion – they’re going to get updates letting them know what she thinks about each read. Amazon has nothing vaguely like this. Also, if you don’t follow that person, that doesn’t mean you won’t find their review in a feed or mentioned elsewhere on the site OR from being in a book group of some sort with her.

Yes, Amazon has tags (and I’ve been told that even though “sweet romance” only has 6 or 7 tags on KISS that several people found it that way) but, this seems like a lot of work. Tags aren’t always cohesive or consistent.

For example, on KISS there is “sweet romance” “sweet” and “clean romance” — someone looking for something might hit one of those…but with a lack of consistence, maybe not.

Of course, my opinion didn’t match up with everyone’s. Others – people with long-form books OR who already had a following – felt like Amazon was the best place for a review to pop up. One person went as far as to say she thought a lot of people had never even heard of GR.

I’ll be curious if my longer-form book I’m working on for this summer has different results…and yet, I kind of doubt it.

And then there are always the reviewer sites. I know I got several tweets and emails about Cheeky Reads review.

So, readers, where do you feel like you get the most trustworthy, I-must-try-that-book reviews?

And, authors, where do you feel like most of your sales come from?

See how nosy I am – I want to hear from everyone!

Each book somehow manages to have a Theory. Yup, apparently my characters like to talk about their funny views of life through theory.

I’m polishing up the one right now for my new release in December, but I thought I’d share the theory from It’s in His Kiss for those of you who haven’t read it yet.

Our hero Jenna is out with her very attractive friend Lisbeth getting some lessons on men. Enjoy:

Studying the room over her martini, Lisbeth jumped right in. “Scoping the guys is a big part of any night out. Start with looks. There are three categories of guys.”

Finally. Something I could answer. “Blond, brunet, redhead.”

Her look questioned my almost perfect SAT scores.

“No. Jeep, Civic, Yugo. Obviously you want to avoid Yugos at all cost.”

“Obviously.” Note: more sarcasm.

“The Jeep is the hot guy. The one that always looks good. And just like his namesake, looks even better with his top off.”

“Are you serious?” If this is what I was going to learn out in ‘the real world,’ no wonder I stayed home so often.

“The Honda,” Lisbeth steamrolled my question. She motioned to my notebook with a pointed look until I raised my pen to capture her…um… brilliance. “Is a nice run of the mill guy. Depending on the year and model, he could be close to a Jeep or, you know, more like a rust heap. The Yugo, well, that’s self-explanatory.”

“And probably what I’ll end up with.”

“Jenna, you’re a solid, one-to-three year off the lot Civic. I’d say you’re silver. If you put makeup on, you might even be red. Don’t sell yourself short.”

So where did that leave me? I was dependable, flat-chested, shopped at the Gap, and you could get me drunk off one drink. Yup, I was a mid-level Honda all right.

I looked at my friend, the Jeep, and counted all the blessings of being a Civic. Low cost, reliable, compact, inexpensive maintenance, low gas mileage.

“So, I need a Civic, right?”

Lisbeth scanned the room, weeding out guys in her head like a chef tossing soft vegetables.

“Him.”

And then the chaos begins

The results are HERE.

But, as promised, below are the “Other” reasons people listed. I had to try to slot most of them so we could have data that made sense. So, if someone talked about money or royalties, they got slotted under “That’s where the money is” etc.

I’m leaving the poll open. Who knows, maybe another 100 people will fill it out! But, the data for the blog was collected from the 108 people who contributed. I strongly recommend checking out the comments the day of the poll as well.

And, to see my data, go to Author Rescue for my bi-monthly post HERE.

OTHER:

A few weeks ago, someone who reads my articles over at Author Rescue asked me why people self-publish. We chatted a little. I gave her my own, but I told her there were tons of reasons.

What’s the most common?

I have no idea. I told her I wouldn’t even begin to guess. But, I’d ask. So, here it is. What is the primary reasons you decided to self publish? Please make sure if you comment to use the poll as well.

ENJOY!

ONE

The thick smoker-voice on the other end of the phone made demands I wanted to ignore. “It’s time for Chloe’s first kiss.”

“What? It can’t be,” I replied, pushing back the panic. “She’s far too young to be involved with boys.”

“Honey, she’s sixteen. Almost seventeen if I remember correctly.”

“But, kissing? Boys?” I shook my head against the receiver, my glasses clinking the earpiece. “I don’t think she’s ready.”

“No, Jenna. You’re not ready. But that doesn’t mean a teenaged girl doesn’t reach that point without us.”

I glared at my Hello Kitty phone, tempted to hang up and claim a bad connection.

“I think maybe a big school dance story line would be great,” Ely continued. “She’s co-captain of her soccer team and vice president of the junior class. Isn’t there anyone she’d be interested in?”

Ely Morgan, Agent Extraordinaire-slash-Pushiest-Woman-on-the-Planet, had never steered me wrong before – except maybe that one time with the now infamous author-photo-from-you-know-where – but still, good advice was there to be had. That didn’t mean I had to like it.

I collapsed back in my worn leather office chair, tempted to spin until I was dizzy. “It’s time?”

“Sugar, it’s past time.”

“I’m not sure.” It’s too soon. “Maybe I could work a potential love interest into the next book.” If anyone good enough crosses my word-processing fingers. “And then we can fold it into senior year.” Or college. Or never.

“I know you want to protect her, sweetie.” Ely’s voice sounded muffled, the click-clack of a keyboard echoing in the background. Agent Extraordinaire was also Multitasking Empress.

The clatter from her phone hitting the ground told me I’d been right.

“Sorry about that,” Ely said. “You still there?”

“Mmhmm.”

“Ok, Jenna. Here’s the deal. Forest Oak won’t take another book unless Chloe matures a little. Your fan mail is from girls who grew up with her and, while a lot of them are shy or nerdy or untrusting or whatever it is keeping them from kissing a boy, that doesn’t mean they don’t want Chloe to. So the deal is, next book, out early fall, homecoming maybe. Chloe gets a kiss.”

I pushed back and spun, the phone cord wrapping around my neck. A sign perhaps?

“All right. I’ll do my best.”

“You always do, my little overachiever.”

Without a goodbye, Ely had hung up and gone on to her next seven multitasking events.

Untangling myself from Ms. Kitty’s tail, I opened the drawer where my writing notes were lovingly filed, alphabetized and color coordinated. The blue boy file was right where it was supposed to be, fourth back in the character notes, behind the pink girl folder but in front of the black folder of death — the place characters who didn’t work out went to die.

Marty O’Donnell — snob, dated best friend, dumped her for an underclassman…er, underclasswoman? Girl?

Mark Andersen — smelled funny, mentioned in three books.

Tony Baccio — funny, smart, cute. Friend’s brother. Should be in college this fall.

Kevin Kline — currently dating best friend.

Slamming the blue folder closed, I considered transferring Chloe to a girls’ boarding school run by nuns on an unchartered island. If I did that, I could add the blue folder to the black one and cut down on folders. It was economical. It made sense.

It would lose me a contract.

Grabbing Hello Kitty, I dialed Lisbeth Nardi’s number in desperation.

“Ciao.”

Lisbeth was the only person I knew who could get away with answering her phone like that. She was also the only one I knew who had kissed half the metro area.

“Lis, I need my character to get kissed. I need a guy and a kiss description.”

“Aren’t you supposed to write what you know?” I heard the laughter in her voice and knew she didn’t mean to be cruel. Unfortunately, she was also right.

“That’s why I need you. You can tell me how kissing a guy feels the first time.” Her earlier words still stung, so I added, “You’ve had plenty of experience in the first kiss department.”

A sigh blasted my ear. One of those declare-yourself-a-martyr sighs.

“First off Jenna, I think what you need to do is just get out there. Get your own first kisses. Get your own life.”

I could almost hear her shrug over the phone.

“Second, your character isn’t you. Her boyfriend is imaginary. He’s not going to convince her to go to the same college, propose the middle of junior year, stand her up at the altar because his frat brothers called him an idiot at the bachelor party the night before, and then try to convince her they should still have sex on the side. That stuff only happens to you.”

That was painful. True, but painful. And kind of rude. Okay, more than kind of, but I was feeling desperate.

“You’re no help.” If the queen of the pick-up couldn’t help me, I was out of luck.

“Oh, I’ll help all right,” she answered. “Actually, I wouldn’t miss this for the world. Meet me outside O’Leary’s at ten and I’ll be more help than you could have wished for.”

I also love Labor Day. The last unofficial weekend of the summer. BBQs, beach trips, a day off of work.

And so, taking the two things I’m loving the most right now, I’m going to load your Kindle with a bunch of great contemp romances to enjoy on your holiday weekend!

HERE WE GO:

With her long ponytail and sparkling green eyes, Tessa Donovan looks more like the girl next door than a businesswoman—or a heartbreaker. Which may explain why Detective Luke Asher barely notices her when he arrives to investigate a break–in at her family’s brewery. He’s got his own problems—starting with the fact that his partner, Simone, is pregnant and everyone thinks he’s the father.

Tessa has her hands full, too. Her brother’s playboy ways may be threatening the business, and the tension could tear her tight–knit family apart. In fact, the only thing that could unite the Donovan boys is seeing a man come after their “baby” sister. Especially a man like Luke Asher. But Tessa sees past the rumors to the man beneath. He’s not who people think he is—and neither is she.

Her town’s lack of men may make headlines, but it isn’t news to Dakota Hendrix. The beautiful blonde has bigger problems to deal with, such as overseeing the romance reality competition filming in Fool’s Gold. Screening eligible bachelors is a difficult enough task, but Dakota hits an unexpected snag when a sexy stranger comes to town. Finn Anderssen will do anything to keep his twin brothers — the perfect contestants — off the show. Despite Dakota’s better judgment, she finds herself drawn to the mysterious outsider. Like her, Finn knows about heartbreak and how a family can fall apart, so she doesn’t dare to hope for anything more than a fling. After all, even in the Land of Happy Endings, finding true love is never as easy as it looks on TV. 

Jenna’s been letting life pass her by as she works on her career. But, when she needs to do some research of this kissing kind, things may get a little more heated than she expected.
Research has never been so fun.

WARNING: This 10k short has no vampires, shape shifter or scorching sex, but it might make you snort your diet Coke out your nose.

Helen Grey is finally getting everything she wants. She’s about to have the perfect dream wedding and begin an exciting new life abroad on the sunny Mediterranean island of Cyprus. But living the dream isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

After a mix-up at the airport, Helen finds herself drawn into the midst of an elaborate plot to steal an ancient statue and assassinate a local businessman. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, her wedding dress is AWOL, the statue seems to be cursed, and Helen is wanted by the police.

With the big day rapidly approaching, a roller-coaster of mishaps, misunderstandings, and disasters threatens to turn the newlyweds into nearlyweds.

Can Helen prevent an assassination, save the statue, and have the perfect wedding? Or will the day to remember turn into one she’d rather forget? 

SO, HOW DO YOU ENTER TO WIN??? Easy! Tell me about your favorite beach read and you’re in!

Drawing is Friday night…just in time to pack them to go!

~Caitie~

I put this list together so my friend could make a decision and then start to prepare with as much information as possible. That doesn’t mean I’m blind to the costs. Yes, I had friends who edited. Yes, I have a friend in PR I could go to. Yes, I found a cover for cheap (although, if you follow my blog you know that I waited until I got a good cover. It actually held up publication. Don’t go live with a bad cover, an unedited product, or any other bad corners cut off to spite your face. Also, ignore any mixed-metaphors in this post.)

I worked under the assumption you did all the pre-work. You wrote a good book. You revised and edited and had beta readers and worked that thing until it was so shiny it blinded you. You’ve made a conscious decision to self-publish your book and you asked yourself the two important questions first. Everything on this lists comes after that.

So, here’s the list I came up with. I’m sure as I get further from my original pub date and closer to my next launch, I’ll find a few things to add to it. Right now, I feel pretty confident in handing this off.

Good Luck.

1. Pay a full service editor. Even with a writing degree and the copy editing cert classes, I want to have the security that it was done and done right. Courtney Milan really convinced me of this.
2. Edit the book again. Yes, I know. You hired an editor. Some Indie Authors hire two…or three. Maybe you can’t afford that, but hiring at lease one is not the place to skimp. Now, do you’re writer thing and work through all those edits with your brain on.
3. Research. Research your genre. Who are they? How are they tagging? Who is selling the most? Why are they selling? What do the best genre book covers look like? Do they blog? What do they blog about? How are the advertising? Don’t move to the next things on the list till you do the research.
4. A cover. Start looking now. I actually do run through of some sites to see if I can get another great deal. The cover for It’s in His Kiss I was lucky to on double sale for $22 – and I love it. The cover counts a lot.
5. The Title: Check that the title works for the story, genre and readers. Make it catchy and memorable…If you’re anyone but me, make sure a really, really, really famous author with the same last name doesn’t have a book with the same title *head desk*
6. Join groups. For example:
1. Join Kindleboards. There’s a lot of good info and support there.
2. Romance Divas and the Rom Indie yahoo group. I’m a lurker in both of these places but, they’re great for specific Rom stuff. Find some in your genre.
7. Join reader forums. No, you’re not going to pimp your book, but you need to be out there where your genre fans are. It’s going to do several things: Keep you in the loop and get your name familiar.Remember, the needs of today’s readers can be filled more quickly by Indie Authors.
8. Set up your Amazon author page and author central stuff so you’re ready to go
9. Tag your book on Amazon. These help people find your book based on their interest. I also ask people if they liked It’s in His Kiss to please hit the “Like” button at the top. I’ve been told (although I have no proof) this bumps you up the search ranks. Regardless, it is something I look at now – did people like the book enough to come back and hit that button?
10. Set up a Goodreads author account separate from your account
11. Start blogging and tweeting about it 3 months in advance (like during edits) just like I would a trad book deal and share the ride to publication and launch date with your readers
12. Write an actual promo plan
1. Are you going to advertise? If so, where?
2. Does your blurb stand alone? Is it well-edited?
3. Do you have a promo timeline?
13. Set up a blog tour. Note this isn’t part of the promo plan. Yes, you’ll work it into the plan, but this is a must.
14. Send out ARCs for review – This is scary, but I’ll definitely do it next time. I had a few reviewers write-up It’s in His Kiss just because. They were so encouraging and I know for a fact their readers tried me because of their reviews.
15. Giveaways: There are two types of giveaways.
1. From You: If you have a following, these will go wonderfully. You’re tribe will be looking forward to getting their hands on your book. Do some the week before it comes out and the two weeks after that.
2. From Others: It wouldn’t hurt to offer free copies to a few places that review or discuss books as reader giveaways. They’ll reach people you’d never be able to on your own.
16. Schedule your Business Hours. When will you be online networking and marketing? If’ it’s written down, you’re more likely to do it. Also, you’re more likely to limit yourself to that instead of getting sucked into the *refresh* addiction.
17. Barter, Beg, Steal… Okay, don’t steal. But, use your resources.
1. Formatting: This was hard. I stunk at it. If I didn’t have two friends who are gifted come along side me and fix my mess and explain stuff to me, I’d be in a boatload of trouble – One reader told me later (when I mentioned I was having a corrected version uploaded) that she saw the format mess, but was pulled into the story so much that she forgot about it and never let me know

This was incredibly flattering, but I know the only reason I got away with that was it was a short.

Do not skimp on formatting. Period. It’s the difference between a new reader for life and someone who doesn’t trust you to put out a quality product.

Also, where are you going to publish? I’m currently only on Amazon, but the second check is earmarked for formatting for Smashwords and BN.

B. Proofing: Yes, even after you pay for an editor the book still needs to be proofed. A nice Starbucks card goes a long way here. Find someone you trust to mark it up even as a “finished product” and you’ll be golden

18. Get a cover quote or two. No seriously. If you have the connections or (the you-know-what that rhymes with falls) contact another writer to see if she’d give you one. Who are the successful Indie Authors in your genre?
19. Set up your budget: How much are you willing to pay total? How much are you willing to pay for each thing? Are you going to do advertising? Where does it work the best (hint: check Kindleboards for this type of data)
20. Set up a tracking system. I’ll be blogging about this later. But, do not go live without someway to track your expenses and income.

This is a business. Treat it seriously.

21. Send an email to friends saying how excited you are about this. Share that you’re nervous about doing it without the support of a publisher and that their support has been invaluable. I gave my Invisible Posse each a copy. I know what you’re saying, this costs me money and gets me nothing – Dude, say thank you. Always say thank you.
22. I’m working on a blog called How To Love Your Indie Friend… because the support needed is more moral. People don’t know how to help and support you if you don’t tell them

The best advice I can give you: DO NOT RUSH. I know, I know. You can’t wait to get it out there in the world. But do it right and give it the wings it needs to really knock it out of the park (remember, we’re not mocking mixed metaphors today) – So, go forth and be successful.

~Caitie~

The adventure lives on.

I’m still learning a lot about indie-publishing. A friend last night pointed me to a blog where the writer went OFF on self-publishers who called themselves “indie” saying we had bastardized (her words) the meaning of the word and basically just a long ranty post meant to put indie (yeah, I said it) writers in their place…and to educate all those poor, poor consumers about why self-publishers are not indie and warn them of the evil that…ok, I’ll stop. The word “evil” may not have actually been used.

What followed was a great discussion (ok, maybe more of me soapboxing) about publishing’s history (dude, it didn’t just start a couple decades ago) and indie music/film tie-ins and the ever changing structure of any industry and how we do not live in the same publishing world we did a decade ago… heck, we don’t live in the same publishing world we did two years ago, or even six months.

We live in a Darwinistic world. Adapt or die.

 Self-publishing is not only here to stay, but it’s becoming more and more viable an option… if done right.

I know people who put more work, editing, copyediting, money, and cover-content focus into their indie book than some mid-list traditional authors get (or do themselves)… Want to hear a dirty little secret?

I’ve had several traditionally published authors admit that they have gotten zero content editing and almost no (if any) copyediting. All of them were at two major houses.

Those gatekeepers? Those ones we’re supposed to trust to turn out great products? It’s becoming more and more commonly known that they can’t always be relied on. I’m not saying ALL publishers or editors. But let’s be honest, some of them.

The responsibility lies with the indie-pubs. We’re going to have to continue to build the indie reputation until the label doesn’t matter. Until all that matters is the product.

So, when trying to stop judging a book by its cover, maybe stop judging it by its source too.

With all these changes in the publishing world, which one do you think is going to shape your world more?

I’d love to know!

~Caitie~

Then I remembered part of this indie adventure was to tell others about it. So here, with no specifics, are some things I’ve been wanting to say.

Every time you say “anyone who has or wants an agent is an idiot” you are saying I, Caitie, am  an idiot. *glances at IQ test* Ok, not to sound snotty, but that test says I’m definitely not an idiot. My business experience and education are pretty hardcore too.

So, I know I’m not an idiot…and yet, I find your words personally insulting, especially when they’re said directly after my post about my agent. 1+1 isn’t going to magically equal 7 if I call you on it.

What if I said this in return: You DON’T want an agent? Why not? Afraid you can’t get one? Dude, you’re totally an idiot for not chasing every option in publication possible.  Not everything I write would be great to publish indie. Some of it needs to go under the other name to be successful. Needs to go through my agent to certain publishers.

Yes, I COULD publish it here. But smart isn’t bull-headed. Smart does what is best for that book.

Remember, sometimes it’s best to just be right in your own head.

Speaking of smart not being bull-headed, if someone gives you advice from loads of experience. Don’t argue with them.

If you don’t agree with them, fine. Do it your way. Ignore the years of experience. You may be right. There is always that chance. But, don’t argue with them. That persons went out of the way to give you knowledge they got the hard way. They’re trying to be helpful. When you try to be helpful and someone with far less experience/knowledge argues with you and publicly tells you how wrong or “stupid” that is… you’re making you look bad.

One of the last people you ever want to make look bad is you.

We talked about this already on the How To Lose Readers Before You’re Even Published post, but being gracious goes a long way… being rude goes even further. Just not in the direction you want.

And, there be our rant for the weekend. Aaaarrr (no idea what’s up with the pirate thing today)

Feel free to argue with me

~Caitie~

This  week I tell you the not so fun thing that happened. Wednesday night Amazon stopped reporting sales numbers. My rank still rose and fell. I spent some time in the teens again. It was obvious sales were happening.

The numbers for this week have not been fully updated. I had a three-hour period where a couple sales came in, and then back to a moving sales rank but no sales data. And so, with no sales data, this is what we have for now:

Day 1:  10 (1 day)
Week 1:    9
Week 2:  15
Week 3:  15
Week 4:  17
Week 5:  15
Week 6:  10
Week 7:   9

I’m estimating just from the movement I’ve seen that Amazon owes my count somewhere between 4 and 7 additional sales. We’ll see what happens. The people over on the kindleboards say this isn’t a first. I am getting the vibe that it’s never lasted this long before though.

Here’s hoping for the best!

Feel free to post your numbers in the comments!

~Caitie~