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Posts Tagged ‘dark relic: vampires’ curse’

Final ROW Update for Round Two 2012

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , on June 20, 2012| 16 Comments »

This has been a strange round for me. In the last three rounds of 2011, I wrote and published a novella for each. That’s when I did the Libby Fox series, which consists of Dark Relic: Vampires’ Curse, Secrets of the Wolf, and Search for the Vampires’ Curse. I loved writing these novellas, and I hope the sales of them pick up someday. My older works still do better than these novellas, or the compilation of them, Vampires’ Curse. I have yet to figure out what makes some books sell better than others, even when the ones that are selling aren’t quite as good as the ones that aren’t. Anyway, I digress and ramble. This round, I just couldn’t get my motivation together. I would have some days where I wrote, then many other days when I didn’t. This was so foreign to me, because I had always stuck to goals and written most days of each round. I don’t know what happened to me. I felt like I was so busy with other things in life and didn’t have the energy for writing, I guess. I really envy those who can write any time of the day because they’re not burdened by a time-consuming day job. I want to be in that situation someday. I WILL be in that situation someday. So I didn’t finish my current WIP in this round. But that’s okay because I can continue it in Round Three. No one is going to beat me with a stick for not meeting the goal I had of finishing this round. I LOVE ROW80. The word count has been good the past two days. Monday – 1119 and Tuesday – 1061. I think it’s really helped to stop focusing on a certain word count every day (usually 500) and just focusing on spending a set amount of time with my WIP. This has actually led to higher word counts, as you can see. 🙂 So I feel like I’m really back on track.

Exercise and eating habits are going well. I planned to only report specifics about this on Sundays, but since this is the last check in for the round, I’ll do it here. I walked at lunch both Monday and Tuesday, and I rode my bike Tuesday evening. I’ve been leaving food on my plate and stopping when I’m satisfied. If I feel like having a burger, I have one, but leave off the french fries. Sometimes it takes just changing little things to make a difference. I buttoned a pair of shorts today that I usually leave unbuttoned and just zip up. Yay!

I look forward to Round Three, and I hope the rest of you will join me again. It’s been fun!

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Why Do Certain Books Sell?

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on February 23, 2012| 15 Comments »

I’m sitting here scratching my head and wondering why some books sell and some don’t. I don’t mean all books, I just mean mine. LOL Why do the same two books sell the best all the time?

Guardian Vampire took off in January and February of 2011 and made me a lot of money in those two months. I never figured out why that particular one sold like that. And now, over a year later, it’s still running neck and neck with Haunted Lake in sales. Haunted Lake is selling a little better right now, but GV is still doing well. If it weren’t for those two books, I wouldn’t be making much money. Haunted Lake actually took about 7 months from the publishing date to really start selling well. I don’t know why. It’s averaging 4 1/2 stars on Amazon, so that’s encouraging.

The reason I did the Libby Fox series in the first place is because my readers asked for a series. They really wanted a sequel to Guardian Vampire, but there just WASN’T a sequel in my heart and mind. So I did this other vampire series. There’s even a werewolf in the second and third book. And honestly…I think the Libby Fox books are better than Guardian Vampire. Much better, in my opinion. The covers are definitely better. Was it the title that sparked interest? (Thank you Susan.) Are the Libby Fox titles all wrong? The readers wanted a series. I gave them one. But they aren’t selling like I want them to. Is it going to be a delayed reaction like Haunted Lake was? I released the three novellas in June, August, and December of 2011. Should I be patient? I know the key to continue selling is to keep writing and publishing. But I’m still getting better sales on my older stuff.

So now I’m wondering about my garden gnome supernatural horror story. I haven’t a clue in the world how it will do. It’s out of my genre, but not too far out. There’s a romance in it, that’s just not the main focus of the story. Will readers think it really sucks? Or will they like this book that’s different from my others? My first beta reader likes it, even though she’s only seen the first draft. I’m anxious to see what my other betas think after I get the edits done. The thing is, even though I wonder about these things, I’m not AFRAID to publish this story. Because what will be will be. I’ll never know until I publish it.

So here’s an interesting question. Should I write a sequel to Haunted Lake or Guardian Vampire? Should I force myself to revisit those characters just to try to boost sales? Or should I follow my heart and mind and write what I feel? Actually, I’m not so sure I would mind revisiting Haunted Lake. Because the guy that DIDN’T get the girl might just have his own story to tell. The possibilities are endless, aren’t they?

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ROW80 Check In 9/4/11

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on September 4, 2011| 18 Comments »

I accomplished my goal of getting Secrets of the Wolf out by Labor Day weekend. Yay! Sales are slow, but I’ve found that the sales of all my releases start really slow and then slowly gain momentum. Haunted Lake was released in January, and sales were terrible for awhile. Then, in July and August, sales suddenly jumped. In August, it outsold my best seller, Guardian Vampire. (This pertains only to the U.S. In the UK, they still want mostly my vampire books.)

I paid a small fee to be included in the Indie Book Blowout. I’m very disappointed in my sales of Dark Relic: Vampires’ Curse, which was the book I put on the site. Sales jumped just a tad, but not enough to make up for my fee. However, I find that sometimes the sales don’t come right away, so I haven’t given up on it. This sale on the Blowout site might have helped sales for later. Sometimes it just has to build up momentum.

I’m still enjoying my anniversary weekend here in Helen, GA. For those who don’t know anything about this little town, it’s kind of a tourist attraction. The whole town is build in a Bavarian theme. I noticed even the local Wendy’s had a little alpine village type building. There are little shops where you can buy just about anything. I love the little clocks. I think we’ll get one for my mother-in-law for Christmas. If we buy one, I’ll post a pic. Most of the local restaurants feature German food. Yesterday, for lunch, I had a German sub on pretzel bread and a side of German potato salad. Yum!

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ROW80 Check In 8/31

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on August 31, 2011| 12 Comments »

My files for Secrets of the Wolf are ready to go for publishing on Amazon, Smashwords, and B & N. All I’m waiting on is my cover art. I’ve been really picky, so the cover art has been harder this time. Anya is supposed to be working on one last idea, and hopefully that will be it. I was expecting to see it last night, but she has been busy with other things. Maybe today. And hopefully, the retailers can get a move on and get it published for the Labor Day weekend.

Thanks again to J.R. for giving Secrets of the Wolf one last proof.

My first book in the Libby Fox series, Dark Relic: Vampires’ Curse, will be on the Indie Book Blowout website, so hopefully that will garner some interest. This book hasn’t sold like my others have. Then, if Secrets of the Wolf comes out this weekend, readers who buy Dark Relic will be able to continue the story.

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ROW80 Check In 8/3/11 + Frustration

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on August 4, 2011| 15 Comments »

No, my frustration isn’t actually with my ROW80 goals. I’m 7864 words ahead of my goal on my current WIP. And I have Haunted Lake ready for print. All is good on that front.

This is my frustration. I never wanted to write a series. I was doing perfectly fine writing stand alone books. But then some readers emailed me and asked me for a series. So I thought I would try one. I released Dark Relic: Vampires’ Curse in June. I’m currently working on the second novella of the Libby Fox series. Here’s the problem…Dark Relic isn’t selling worth a crap. (See, I’m frustrated, because I never use that word in my blog.) Every one of my previous books is outselling it. I thought the whole purpose of making sure you’re constantly putting new material out there is to keep your sales up, and get people to also buy your backlist. But my backlist is what’s selling. No matter what I do, Guardian Vampire continues to be my best seller. What is it about that book that sells? Although, maybe I need to think about something else. Hmmm. Haunted Lake is now keeping up with Guardian Vampire. And that book took seven months to really start selling. So maybe it’s going to take time. I just don’t know. I think Dark Relic has a better cover than Guardian Vampire. Is it the title? Am I just being impatient? Grrrrr.

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ROW80 Check In and New Release!

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on June 23, 2011| 32 Comments »

I think it’s so neat that on the last check in of round two, I get to make the announcement that I finally published the novella I was working on in round two. Dark Relic: Vampires’ Curse is for sale at both Smashwords and Amazon. (Haven’t formatted for B & N yet.) This is the first in a three novella series and I plan on working on the second one in round three. I hope to see everyone back for the next round!

Btw, a funny thing I did…I made a mistake and uploaded the Smashwords version instead of the Amazon version to Amazon. I was in a panic, but the folks at Amazon put my book back in edit mode so I could upload the correct version. But, in the meantime, the other version got published, so the title page says Smashwords. LOL. Apparently, Amazon is getting quicker at publishing our books. Usually, it takes a few days for the description to come up, even after it’s buyable. This time Amazon had everything done in less than 24 hours.

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ROW80 Check In 6/19/11

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on June 19, 2011| 18 Comments »

I finally got the major edits done on Dark Relic: Vampires’ Curse. Yay! Now I’m sending it off for more proofreading, and after that, I’ll give it another glance. Then I’m going to release it. I’m not going to worry and fret about it. One of the things I’m going to make sure of is that in the description it will be clear that it’s a novella. I’ve had complaints about some of my novellas being too short. I guess the reader thought they were buying a novel. I can’t believe people complain about something being short when it’s only 99 cents! Grrrr. This is going to be the first in a three part series, so it stands alone in that the major conflict is settled. But it does leave things hanging just a little at the end so that the two main characters can continue their relationship, which has it’s own conflicts.

Here’s a dilemma I have. I’ve toyed with releasing this novella at 1.99 instead of .99. All of my backlist is .99. I think all of those stories have hit their peak, so I think I’m going to leave the prices as they are. But I was thinking about releasing the first in this series at 1.99, then when I release the second one at 1.99, lowering this one to .99. Any thoughts?

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