If you've been trolling the blogosphere like I have lately you've heard a lot of flap about traditional publishing versus self publishing. We draw lines in the sand and take sides like we're hometown rivals and today is the big game. We shout across the battle lines with traditional people saying, "Self-publishers make less than $1000 a year." The self-published firing back with examples of bad contracts and abused books. We fight. We post. We shake fists into the ether. 

People, we can go back and forth all day, but at one point it begins to feel like we're pundits on Fox News or CNN. Do those bald and beautiful talking heads ever change their minds when confronted with a carefully crafted argument from the opposition? I think not. This is how Americans are. We pick a side and then we hold onto it like a child to his binkie. And don't you dare try to take that binkie. 

As a self-published author-entrepreneur, I have taken a side I like considerably, thank you very much, but I am not into evangelizing the other side. If they are happy over there in the glittering land of the Big Five than I am happy for them. I wish them wonderful book covers, editors who work tirelessly and contracts promising cashola so fat they can buy a private island. It affects my little world none. And I think that very point is the reason I self-published a year and a half ago. I don't have to worry about anyone else. I worry about myself. I please myself and my fans (get your minds out of the gutter, people). I pick my covers. I chose what I write and when I write it. I edit until I am happy and then I put the book up. I am el capitan, CEO. I'm the big dog, the head cheese, the... oh, you get the point. Bottom line is I get to be my own boss. This means I have very high job satisfaction. I read an article in the Huffington Post not too long ago that discussed this very idea. Did you know that CEOs have less stress in their lives then their underlings? How can that be, I thought. Everyone is pawing at them to make decisions, fix problems, dig the company out of foreclosure. Yet, a new study shows that bosses, on average have less stress hormones present than the rest of us drones. 

"The reason your boss is so chill? Control. The executives and leaders in the study --148 of them, from the military, government, business and nonprofits -- were in command of their schedules, daily living circumstances, financial security and basically just about everything in their lives, notes the Los Angeles Times."  


This is exactly what self-publishing promises. It may not promise a financial windfall (though neither does traditional publishing), it may not bring fame and glory, but it brings great satisfaction. I've been working a full time professional job for nearly twelve years and the longer I work, the more job satisfaction plays a huge roll in how I view life. Money is slowly losing its driving force and power too. I want to do something that makes me happy and fulfills me. This is the reason I chose self publishing. 


Instead of taking drawing lines in the sand and fighting over which side is "right" we should examine our own satisfaction. If you're there, you're there, man. Don't let anybody harsh your mellow. 


What about you? How much do you feel happiness plays a role in which paths you take? Sound off below.

This weekend I had the privilege of attending MacGregor Literary Marketing Seminar in Chicago, Illinois. Some of you may know that MacGregor Literary is my agency. This was my first time being able to meet with the good people who represent me, including my fabulous agent, Amanda Luedeke. Though I have spoken with Amanda on the phone, I've never been able to meet her in person. I knew a five hour car ride with my husband, listening to his strange musical selections was worth the chance to meet Amanda and all the other authors represent by the agency. So, we packed up the car, left my children in the loving care of their grandmother (and her hyper wiener dog) and headed to the windy city.

First of all, let me say that the first events were nerve wracking to say the least. Since it was my first seminar, I felt like 1) I was the only person there that knew no one (including her agent) and 2) I was the only one who had not yet gotten a publishing contract. I was pretty sure as soon as these seasoned veterans started talking to me they'd politely find an excuse to go clean bathroom grout, or anything else equally more exciting. What I found instead was some amazing authors all of whom were very kind and very welcoming. Amanda was charming, smart and hilarious, all the things I suspected she was. And Chip MacGregor could be a stand-up comedian in his next life. I got to know some amazing authors like Leslie Gould who writes amazing Christian Fiction, and Jill Williamson who write speculative fiction for teens (just like me!). Getting to hear their perspectives and ask them questions was invaluable. And making writer friends is always amazing whenever or wherever it can happen. 

The marketing seminar was very helpful. So many fantastic ideas were thrown out that I don't think I can chronicle them all in one post. I will say that I learned I need to define my ideal reading audience and do more specific targeting. I need to approach bloggers and reviewers with the mindset of how I can help them, not the other way around. And I need to consider titles that make my books more searchable on Amazon. (Don't worry. I plan on another post next week highlighting some of the best advice on marketing I've gleaned to share with anyone interested.)

Overall, it was a great experience. One I hope to duplicate in the future. Thanks again to Amanda and Chip and all the people at MacGregor for putting on such a lovely event. It will be a highlight of my year for sure.  

As you may know, book marketing is a regular topic on my blog. I've been guerrilla marketing my books for almost a year now and have tried many strategies. To learn about other tips you can try part 1,  part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5 and part 6 at each respective link. 

I've waited a while to write this post mainly because I wanted to give myself some emotional distance from my experience at NetGalley. For the most part, I want these blog posts to be informative and help authors like myself to better market their books. I do not want this to be a rant post that is neither helpful nor informative. That is why I've waited a month to describe my experience with NetGalley. I will do my best not to rant. 

Before we begin, let me give you some information on NetGalley. Here is a blurb straight from their own website. 

"NetGalley is a service to promote and publicize forthcoming titles to readers of influence. If you are a reviewer, blogger, journalist, librarian, bookseller, educator, or in the media, you can use NetGalley for FREE to request and read titles before they are published. Publishers can upload their galleys, plus any marketing and promotional information, and interact with members in two ways: * By approving member requests from our catalog of titles * By inviting members to view titles using our email invitation widget. "

NetGalley for the last many years was limited to traditionally published authors, so when I learned they were opening their doors to indies I was very excited. Another door opened to my Indie brethren. (No longer would we be kicked out of country clubs or hissed at on the street. We were being promoted from the kiddie table to the grown-up buffet.) Not only do I like doors opening for indies, but I also like the prospect of real, vetted reviewers checking out my title and posting reviews. I know well the mantra "The more reviews you have, the more sales you have." I figured my new release would be perfect for this. I'd get lots of professional reviews posted to Amazon and it would help my sales. Voila. What could go wrong?

I signed up in a co-op with several of my writer soul-mates. We each paid $350: three hundred for the NetGalley yearly subscription and fifty for the moderator who would set it all up and manage our request for us. That is a steep price point and it was a hard choice, but I figured it was worth it. I'd have reviews pouring in and I'd see the money back in sales. So I paid my money, uploaded Eyes Ever to the Sky and waited. 

Reviewers quickly requested copies of my book. Over a hundred people were approved. But as the days ticked by and the reviews trickled in, I started to worry. Why weren't more of the people who requested the book posting reviews? Why weren't many of them posting to Amazon, the site where I make my money? Why were so many of the reviews short or grammatically challenged? 

Here's the main problem I have with NetGalley. They claim on their website that the readers you are giving free books to are all "reviewers". They are all supposed to have a platform with which to share reviews. They are all supposed to know how to write a book review. As a reviewer myself, I know that learning to review takes time. Anyone can blab a few minutes about their feelings on a book, but it takes a certain learned skill to convey what you felt and why you felt it in a way that helps identify if this book would be a suitable purchase. Sadly, with some of the reviews I was receiving, they were not deft in this skill. I'll admit some reviews were down right mean and hurt my feelings. Others gave away spoilers RIGHT IN THE TITLE of the review with no spoiler warning. The worst part is, out of the nearly two hundred books I gave away, only a handful of reviews have made it to Amazon. So in essence, I paid 350 dollars to give my book away for nearly nothing in return. Well, I did get some bad feelings and some mediocre three star reviews. Honestly the whole thing felt like a gut punch. From Mike Tyson. Into a tiger's den. 

To be fair, NetGalley does allow you to pick and chose who you allow to upload your titles. I should've been more selective, but it is very hard, given the limited amount of information you get on these reviewers, to know if they'll a) even write a review or b) write one that won't give away your whole book. There will never be a next time with me and NetGalley, but if the universe somehow worm-holes into a Bizarro World and I forget my rotten experience, the one thing I would do differently is be WAY more selective on who I give books to. If you're considering the service, please take that one piece of advice. 

A few weeks ago I asked our NetGalley moderator to take my title down. It had been up for about two months and I couldn't take the abuse anymore. Sadly, I've already paid my yearly fee and have to eat the 350 dollars. A monthly fee would be much more helpful to Indies. You live and learn, but one thing is for sure, I'll know better next time. 

So what about you? What have been your NetGalley experiences? 

Book Marketing Part 8 - The Anthology

As you may know, book marketing is a regular topic on my blog. I've been guerrilla marketing my books for almost a year now and have tried many strategies. To learn about other tips you can try part 1,  part 2, part 3, part 4 and part 5 at each respective link. 


As an indie author I try to stay up on each and every fad in marketing and advertising books. When I first started to hear about Book Bub from J.A. Konrath I was skeptical. Was he getting a cut from mentioning this site? Was it really worth it? Did people really pay $1000 dollars on a site to list a book for free?!! It sound crazy. But, then I heard it from a few more sources (like this one from Joanna Penn) and I decided it was a legitimate strategy, one I knew I had to try. 

The premise of Book Bub is simple and not that different than many of the other free book subscription websites out there. Readers sign up to Book Bub and get notified of free and discounted ebooks. The nice thing about Book Bub is it's organized by category. Their mailing lists are huge (540,000 for Mysteries and 400,000 for Romance) and you can reach a ton of new readers in a very short amount of time. But, the price is a little steep. If your book is free, the price is more reasonable. I paid $40 dollars for a listing on the Teen and Young Adult list. However, if your book is 2.99 and you want to hit the mystery readers, get ready to shell out $1,200. That is a big chunk o' change no matter where you're sitting on a best sellers list. 

For me $40 buckaroos was a safe gable. The Breeders had taken a bit of a slump and I needed a boost since my amazing agent was going to be taking it around to editors at BEA. So, I set up a free promo with Book Bub at the end of May and waited to see. 

On the day of the promotion, the downloads started to roll in. At the last minute I decided to get on Author Marketing Club and try to list my book on several of those sites for free. I do not recommend waiting until the day of the promo to do this. Many sites will be booked up and will not list your book. Luckily, many made room for me on their free lists. I guess having some good reviews already listed under your book can help you get priority placement. 

The results were amazing. As I watched my book climb the free list, my jaw dropped. Soon I was in the top 100 free. Thousands of readers were downloading. By the end of day one I hit number 15 on the free list. The first page! How amazing. By the end of the four day promo I had given away approximately 16,000 books. Um, yeah. 

After the promo I waited to see the residual effects. So far, a week and a half out sales are good. My popularity rating on Amazon is higher. Sales are slightly better. And, now when you type "the breeders" into the general search engine on Amazon my book finally comes up first instead of the very awesome 1990s pop group with the same name. (Go ahead, try it. You'll see.) Overall, I think the $40 was totally worth it. Now, had I paid $1,000 I might have a different opinion. That return on investment would have to be much bigger to justify spending that kind of dough. 

So, what about you? Have you tried Book Bub? How well did it work?

Book Marketing Part Seven - NetGalley

I don’t know about you, but if I read one more story about a sexy but aloof vampire/werewolf/merman/garden gnome I might drive the stake straight into my own heart. To say that paranormal romance has been done is like saying that Lady Gaga’s outfits are different: the understatement of the century. As a reviewer for the indie book review site, Underground Book Reviews, I get inundated with requests to review paranormal books. The tropes have been beaten to death with sexy, yet tortured super beings and the innocent damsels who love them. Readers are fed up with it. I’ll wage a coffin full of money that if you pitched a vampire paranormal romance to an agent right now, they’d laugh you out the door.

And yet, there’s some reason why Stephenie Meyer can now buy an African country from writing four books.

I’ll be the first to go on record to say that I LOVED the Twilight books when they first came out. I read the first book before anyone was talking about it (I think that puts me in some elite nerd group where the perks are atomic wedgies, but I digress). That book rocked my world. There was something so…addicting about being loved by a creature strong enough to crush you. To be special enough to attract the attention of a super human, now that was sexy. No amount of sour grapes on the part of reviewers can take away what those books did for fantasy writers and reader everywhere.

So, where does that leave us? With stories that are derivative, characters that are more cardboard than a cereal box and plots completely overdone. Do we kill this genre and bury it with a sparkling tomb stone? “Here Lies Vampire Love Stories. RIP.” Like its undead characters, would it rise, moaning, clawing for scraps of life?

Science fiction and romance are my two favorite genres, so I refuse to believe their pairing has been killed. No matter how many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches people eat, they still come back for more because the pairing is just so good. So it should be with paranormal romance. The genre doesn’t have to die, but it must be refashioned, reborn. And, that is exactly what I attempted to do with Eyes Ever to the Sky, my new YA sci fi romance. Did I go far enough from the derivative? Did I hug close enough to the tropes that matter? Only my readers may judge. I will tell you that not a single scene is set inside a high school and not a single character sparkles. That has to count for something.

My conclusion. Paranormal romance is not dead. Derivative stories and fan fic may be on its last straggling breath, but like any genre, authors can remake, reshape and reform. That’s the beauty of story–it can always be made new.

What about you? Do you think Paranormal Romance is dead?

It's here, my second novel! I'm so relieved/thrilled/scared/peein-in-my-pants. This book has been a long time coming and I can't wait to hear what you think about it. To celebrate, I'm giving away a $25 Amazon gift card. Enter below. 


Buy the ebook on Amazon
Buy the paperback on CreateSpace
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A few weeks ago I discussed book marketing strategies I’ve tried in a few posts linked here (part 1, part 2 and part 3). Since that time I’ve had the pleasure of trying out a paid blog tour and I wanted to take a minute to blog about my experiences for anyone who’s interested in trying it.

I used Kismet tours, recommended to me by the fabulous A.G. Henley, but there are many book tour sites to choose from. A few things to note with Kismet. You need to schedule the tour two months in advance. This is difficult for many indie writers because once a book is ready, they want to release it, not wait two months for a special release. I ended up doing the tour long after my book had released, so that aspect didn’t matter much to me. Also, the price is not cheap. I paid $320 for a review tour, but prices go up from there into $530 for the full package. For my review tour I was told I would get up to 30 reviews. It ended up being about 20. I was a little let down. 30 reviews was what I was hoping for, but I understand they cannot guarantee a certain number of reviewers will sign on. As the tour commenced, two of the reviewers pulled out, which dropped my number to about 18. I guess the cut off for the price you pay for is 15, so in the end, I still paid the full amount with the promise that those missing reviewers would try to post their reviews as soon as possible. I have not yet heard if they have done so.

The reviews went on without a hitch though and I got some great feedback and a lot to tweet about and post on Facebook. However, I was disappointed to learn that most reviewers did not post their reviews to Amazon. 15 to 20 more reviews on my Amazon numbers would really be helpful, but even when I contacted the reviewers directly they did not respond, nor did they post to Amazon. Since posting to Amazon takes about ten seconds I was really disappointed in this aspect of the tour.

On to social media. The site also hosts a giveaway and I donated 10 free e-copies that readers could win. To enter they needed to follow me on Facebook or Twitter or tweet about the giveaway. This garnered me a huge following on both sites. Here are the numbers Kismet supplied to me.

The Breeders Goodreads Community Reviews 
Start of blog tour (3/24/13) - 391 Reviews/To-Reads
End of blog tour (4/16/13) - 476 Reviews/To-Reads
Percentage change - 22%

Twitter followers:
Start of blog tour (3/24/13) - 479 followers
End of blog tour (4/16/13) - 1,013 followers
Percentage change - 111%

Facebook Author page:
Start of blog tour (3/24/13) - 902 Likes
End of blog tour (4/16/13) - 1,533 Likes
Percentage change - 70%

The bottom line was how did this translate to sales? Well, I check my numbers pretty regularly and I have to say I did not see a change in sales. In fact, sales actually dropped a little during the tour. This is all just anecdotal evidence, but when you do a tour, you are hoping for a sales boost to offset your cost. I did not see that happen. 

Overall, the people at Kismet were very nice, very easy to reach and helpful. The reviewers for the most part posted their reviews, but most did not contact me and there was no relationship built, which is a detriment, especially if you want that reviewer to read your later works. The social media piece was good, but where it really counted -- sales -- I did not see the bump I was hoping for.

My conclusion: Next time, I’ll save the money and contact reviewers and bloggers myself. It may be a lot more work, but the price is too steep for the pay out.

So, what about you? What are your experiences with Blog Tours?

Book Marketing Part Five

Have you ever stood naked in front of a group of strangers? Unless you work for the pornography industry or have a propensity for streaking, I'd guess no. I haven't either (thank God), but I have had an experience which I liken to a frolic in your birthday suit. I'm pretty sure hitting the publish button on my debut novel last August felt similar: the toe curling anxiety, the sweating palms, the bashful backing away, covering your genitals. Yet, I digress. I had to face the fact that pretty much everyone I know would read the deepest, strangest parts of my psyche. I had to blush and nod as they discussed particularly embarrassing parts of The Breeders. My boss brought up the scene where Riley passes a brothel and sees a naked sixty-year-old woman with her saggy breasts in a man's palm. Talk about toe curling. And yet, I survived. I learned to roll with the punches. The problem is I'm about to do it again. 

Today I sent the final draft to my lovely editor for a final copy edit. When it comes back, it'll be pretty and pristine and I will have to fight all urges to touch it, lest I mess it up. This is the suck-it-up time. The punch-fear-in-the-face time. Publishing a book puts your feet right to the fire and invites any number of injustices in the form of Amazon reviews that will strip you bare and have you covering your genitals for sure. 

So, hopefully by the beginning of May I will be able to unveil my new shiny work-in-progress to you all. In the meantime, here's the teaser in case you missed it last time. 

When Hugh wakes up in a smoldering crater–no memory, no clothes–a single thought echoes in his head…trust no one. Frightened and alone, with no memory of who he is, he stumbles upon a grisly murder scene and is fatally shot.  He wakes, only to find he can heal himself. He has superpowers, and he’s going to need them.

Desperate and bleeding, Hugh stumbles upon fifteen-year-old Cece, who’s got enough troubles of her own. Between caring for her bipolar mother and trying not to get evicted from her run-down trailer, Cece may be the only person struggling as much as Hugh. Drawn to Hugh, Cece finds a love she’s never known. But when the real killer–a man-hunting beast–  chooses another victim, Hugh and Cece realize they must unlock the clues to their past if they have any chance at a future.

Eyes Ever to the Sky is a Young Adult paranormal romance/hero's origin story with a dash of horror. Audiences who liked I am Number 4 will enjoy this action-packed romance. 

Before I had children, I watched A LOT of Dr.Phil. "Now Katie," you are likely thinking, "this blog is usually about writing and not about your most embarrassing personal escapades."  Yes, dear reader, you are right. I state this point about my previous love for Dr. Phil not just to embarrass myself, but to use it as an illustration  One thing I love about Dr. Phil (besides his folksy sayings and shiny head) is that he helps audiences identify hidden negative thoughts they are thinking about themselves. Then he helps to squash them like a Texas chigger. As a school counselor I use this a lot with my students, but I also use it a lot in my writing. There is no other activity where I have more negative thoughts than when I am conjuring up new worlds. I think I am not alone, though if I am solo in this cold and lonely place at least Dr. Phil is with me. (Imagine his thick mustache for a moment. Ah, yes.)

Here are some of the most common negative thoughts in no particular order.

Lie One - "I have to be inspired to write." 

The Fear - "I will sit down to the computer and realize I have nothing to say. Furthermore, I will realize I actually am a dolt with a Twizzlers for a brain. I should probably give up and focus on my Words with Friends game." 

The Solution - Begin by telling yourself that it is okay not to feel inspired to write, but make yourself do it anyway. Tell yourself it is okay if everything you write sounds terrible. I'd say it's okay if all you write is "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." (However, if you have any inklings towards buying an ax, seek professional help.) The very act of sitting down in front of a computer can kick your brain into writer mode. You'll be surprised at how the inspiration finds you right there on the page. 

Lie Two - "If I write, it will be terrible and there will be no fixing it." 

The Fear - "Any material that I produce will be drivel. My writing will be crap and no matter how many times you sculpt a cow pattie it'll never be Michelangelo's David (tiny pee pee and all). 

The Solution - Pounding out a crummy first draft is the only way to start. No one writes a perfect first draft, not even the greats. As Raymond Chandler once said, "“Throw up into your typewriter every morning. Clean up every noon.” And as Ernest Hemingway so eloquently put it, "The first draft of anything is shit." So, either way you've got a lot of puking or pooping to do before you lay a golden egg. 


Lie Three - "I'll focus on building my platform first. I need to have lots of followers so that when I actually write my book, I'll have people to buy it."

The Fear - Sitting down to do the hard work. What's more fun: dredging your soul or chatting on Twitter?

The Solution - Forget about platform, at least for now. You'll need to connect with readers at some point and you'll want a landing spot where readers can find you, but the work. THE WORK, is what will sustain you and keep those readers coming back for more. Don't let your brain fool you into taking the easy way out. Write first, platform second. 

There you have it, little Phil-inites, three big lies we writers tell ourselves. The sooner you can squash them, the sooner you'll be on your merry, writing way. What about you? What are some lies you tell yourself when you sit down to write? 

One of the big tenets of Indie writing guru J.A. Konrath is a professional book cover is worth its weight in gold. I couldn’t agree more. Besides the book being recommended by a friend, a stunning cover is one of the top reasons someone buys your title over the rest. Readers need to see your cover (sometimes only in a thumbnail size) and feel drawn to it. They need to look at a slew of books and pick yours above the rest. Otherwise your book, no matter how brilliant it is, will be passed over time and time again.

Let’s take a look at a few examples. To preface, I hold no ill-will toward any books presented here. Nor am I affiliated with either author. I am only using the covers as examples. 

To the right you will see exhibit A. This is a book available for sale currently on Amazon. When you look at this cover, what strikes you? Would you think that this author spent a lot of time designing a cover trying to get the aspect ratio correct? Would you assume that this author might have spent the same amount of time trying to correct plot holes in her manuscript? 

Exhibit B is a self-published title hailing at a steep $6.99 price tag on Amazon. At first look, I would think this book is about a giant on the swim team. It again has some of the same issues as above in that it conveys a cheeply put together product. This is not the message you want to send, people. You've toiled for months, maybe years on your book. Don't blow it by slapping some stock photo into a Word document and calling it a day. Lazy cover art makes readers think you are selling a  lazily written book. First impressions matter. 

Now to exhibit C. The book below is also for sale on Amazon and it is the same price as the book A and half the cost of book B. Now, if you were interesting in buying a book and these three were sitting side by side, which do you think you'd drop $2.99 on?  This cover is compelling. It draws me in. I know instantly what genre the book is and I 

have an idea of what it will be about. It also tells me its author has spent considerable time and probably some money on making this the best quality cover it can be, which leads me to assume she did the same with her content.  

So, if you are pondering your own book cover, here are some elements to consider. 

1. Does it look professional? Would someone immediately categorize it as "self-published" just by looking at it?
2. Will the image hold up when shrunken down to a thumbnail?
3. Does the picture convey the genre, age group and tone you are going for?
4. Is there a gut reaction to the image? Will your readers be drawn toward the book because of it?
5. Is it legible? Does the title and author stand out from the image? 

If you've gotten my drift sufficiently, I think you'll conclude that it is worth spending some money on a cover. It doesn't have to cost you an arm and a leg, however. You can purchase a quality cover for around $300. The amount of sales your cover will bring you should make up that much and more. 

What about you? What do you think makes a good cover?