Why This Project?

I am a queer woman loving woman who married her university sweet heart. I’m also a rabid bookworm who adores fantasy and romance. I love shiny, pretty books.

But I have a problem, I can only ever find those beautiful special edition books for straight people with straight romance and straight Not Safe For Work (NSFW) art in them. And that just isn’t fair.

That’s one of the main reasons I started writing queer romance, and it’s entirely the reason I’m running this Kickstarter. Because I want a special edition, beautiful book with sexy lesbian art in it, that’s full of spicy scenes, stunning character art and foiled pages!

So if you’re a queer person, or even an ally who loves to support the LGBTQIA+ community, then you’re in the right place.

How Does Kickstarter Work?

Kickstarter is a crowd funding platform. Essentially you pledge a certain amount of money for a “Tier”.  Within that tier you get a set of goodies. Including things like signed books, character art and more.

When the campaign reaches certain funding stretch goals, you unlock even more goodies that are included as part of your original pledge.

What’s included in the special edition?

The Book

The book has a Kickstarter only cover, the blood drips off the roses instead of the title—like it does on the standard edition. It’s also holographically foiled. The foil is rainbow coloured and shimmers rainbow in the light. The front, back and spine are foiled along with the case laminate (the hard cardboard cover under the jacket) too (front and back). The book has head and tail bands in branded vampire black and red and because we hit funding, it will have a matching black ribbon too. What’s more, each book is hand signed and numbered by me. Inside the book is a beautiful map and there will be colour NSFW art of the spicy scenes.

The Book Box

In the book boxes (depending on the tier) you’ll get things like:

• Character stickers
• Bookmark
• NSFW art prints
• Map print
• Playlist print
• Kinky list print
• Vibrator (yes, you read that right).

For me this is all about creating an experience for you while reading, and I write smut… so… vibrators.

And as a sneak peek you can see one of the NSFW art works pieces below.

The Stretch Goals (which have already been hit!!)

No Kickstarter would be complete without stretch goals, so when we you certain funding goals you get more bonus goodies at no extra cost. For me, this includes:

• Three extra, brand new bonus spicy scenes
• Those bonus spicy scenes narrated by me in audio
• Extra NSFW art in the book
• Art prints of the NSFW scenes
• An evening in conversation with Ruby!

I’ve never been so proud of a book I’ve created and you really do not want to miss this Kickstarter because it is limited edition. You will not be able to buy this cover or version of the book with all the art inside it anywhere. Nor will the standard editions include any of the art (save the map).

Support the Kickstarter

The post Special Edition NSFW Lesbian Vampire Romance Kickstarter appeared first on Sacha Black.

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Presenting a world-class StoryBundle of 16 books that will help you up your game as a writer. In order to write your novel in a month or less, you need to develop a plan and increase your productivity. We’ve got several titles to do just that—C. Michelle Jefferies has the 30 Day NaNoWriMo Prep Book, while Monica Leonelle offers a slightly different take with Novel Writing Prep: A 30-Day Planner That Prepares You To Write 50,000 Words in One Month.

Once you’ve got a plan, pump up your output with The No-Nonsense, No BS Guide to Putting Words on the Page by Natasha Khullar Relph and Be a Writing Machine by Michael La Ronn. Kevin McLaughlin shows you how to find more time to write in The Coffee Break Novelist, while Joanna Penn and Mark Leslie Lefebvre help you take care of yourself while you crank out the words in The Relaxed Author.

Next step is to massage those words into something worth reading. The Survival Kit for Writers Who Don’t Write Right by Patricia McLinn will help out, and for more specific techniques, Ian Madison Keller and Mary E. Lowd show you how to write animals in Furry Fiction Is Everywhere.

My own offering in this StoryBundle is my latest book, 8 Steps to Side Characters: How to Craft Supporting Roles with Intention, Purpose, and Power. Detailing how to build side characters full of depth and reader-grabbing sass.

And now to get published! If you’re interested in producing the book yourself as an indie publisher, you have a whole industry to learn. Start out with C. A. Price’s A Simple How-To Guide for Indie Publishers and The Indie Author’s Bible by Christopher D. Schmitz. There’s even a book on how to avoid the slush pile if you’re more interested in trad publishing: Slush Pile Memories: How Not to Get Rejected by Kevin J. Anderson himself.

Getting into more of the nitty-gritty, Craig Martelle offers The Successful Indie Author: Release Strategies and Tao Wong has Marketing Strategy for Authors. For a really deep dive into emails and newsletters, we even offer specific books by Andrea Pearson, Killer Content: How to Write Emails that Get Your Books Downloaded, and Erika Everest, The Strategic Author’s Guide to Mailerlite.

 But hurry, the NaNoWriMo Writing Tools Storybundle will only be available until the beginning of December. 

* * *

It’s a “pay what you like” system but if you meet the bonus price, you can also get discount coupon codes for the ebook editing apps Jutoh 3 and Jutoh 3 Plus! What does “pay what you like” mean? For StoryBundle, you decide what price you want to pay. For $5 (or more, if you’re feeling generous), you’ll get the basic bundle of four books in any ebook format—WORLDWIDE.

• The Strategic Author’s Guide to MailerLiteby Erika Everest
• Self-Publishing for Authorsby C. A. Price
• Killer Contentby Andrea Pearson
• 8 Steps to Side Characters by Sacha Black

If you pay at least the bonus price of just $20, you get all four of the regular books, plus TWELVE more books, for a total of 16! You also get two coupon codes for 50% and 75% off the book editing app Jutoh 3!

• Be a Writing Machineby Michael La Ronn
• The Coffee Break Novelistby Kevin McLaughlin
• Slushpile Memories: How NOT to Get Rejectedby Kevin J. Anderson
• The Relaxed Authorby Joanna Penn and Mark Leslie Lefebvre
• Furry Fiction is Everywhereby Ian Madison Keller and Mary E. Lowd
• Successful Indie Author Release Strategiesby Craig Martelle
• The Indie Author’s Bibleby Christopher D. Schmitz
• 30-Day NaNoWriMo Prep Workbookby C. Michelle Jefferies
• Novel Writing Prepby Monica Leonelle
• Shut Up and Writeby Natasha Khullar Relph
• Survival Kit for Writers Who Don’t Write Rightby Patricia McLinn
• Marketing Strategy for Authorsby Tao Wong
• 50% off Jutoh 3 and 75% off Jutoh 3 Plus!by Jutoh

This bundle is available only for a limited time via Storybundle. It allows easy reading on computers, smartphones, and tablets as well as Kindle and other ereaders via file transfer, email, and other methods. You get multiple DRM-free formats (.epub, .mobi) for all books!

It’s also super easy to give the gift of reading with StoryBundle, thanks to our gift cards – which allow you to send someone a code that they can redeem for any future StoryBundle bundle – and timed delivery, which allows you to control exactly when your recipient will get the gift of StoryBundle.

To find out more about the bundle, click here.

The post The 2021 NaNoWriMo Writing Tools Bundle appeared first on Sacha Black.

I’ve been reading a lot of self-help books of late. I’ve said it before, but the transition to full-time self-employment has been turbulent to say the least. So, when in doubt, I always turn to books. Knowledge is power, education is the only solution. I thought I’d share some of the best self-help books for writers out there in the hopes it helps you on your journey too.

In no particular order:

11 Self-Help Books for Writers

Girl, Stop Apologising by Rachel Hollis

Also by the same author in the series and actually the prequel, Girl, Wash Your Face.

To buy Girl, Stop Apologising, you can use these links:

Amazon UK and Amazon USA.

This particular book gave me a couple of revelations which you can read about here, but predominantly, one about focus and how I should treat my to-do list results list.

Part memoir, part actionable self-help book, it’s split in two: excuses you need to get rid of and behaviors you need to adopt.

You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero

You can get it from Amazon UK, Amazon USA

This for me was less about the actionable things I need to do and more that I finished the book feeling like I could do anything I damn well wanted. A proper powerhouse of motivation. Part philosophical fooey (which I happen to agree) it’s full of anecdotes and memories of a life you wish you could have led.

Jen Sincero is seriously badass, and now I feel like I am too.

The Success Principles by Jack Canfield

You can get it from Amazon UK and Amazon USA

I actually listened to this one on audiobook. One of the most powerful books I’ve read, this is probably my number one recommendation. There are tons of actionable steps you can take in this book. I kept a post-it note in my wallet which read

I will leave my job in 2020

I signed the note and kept it in my wallet for two years. I ended up leaving in 2019.

His book is full of stories of success, tips and a boatload of motivation. If you’re a writer, this is one self-help book for writers you should not miss out on.

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert

Purchase on Amazon UK and Amazon USA.

I adore Elizabeth Gilbert. Every time she opens her mouth it’s like molten gold and flowing inspiration. Big Magic is a whole book of it. Her style sucks you in and grips you until the finish. I’m pretty sure I sank Big Magic in one or maybe two sittings.

Very much a book for writers and creatives. It’s largely about mindset and moving beyond fear, but it’s an all-round motivational read that reassures you you’re not alone in the highs and lows of creative life.

I highly recommend it.

Indie Author Mindset by Adam Croft

Purchase on Amazon UK and Amazon USA

I had the pleasure of reading this before it was published. This is a refreshing, short read for any author (trad or indie) looking to give their mindset a check.

Key takeaways are around how to view your writing as a business and the key things you need to do in order to set yourself up for business success.

This book pulls no punches, but it’s a fantastic guide and I highly recommend it.

The Successful Author Mindset by Joanna Penn

Purchase on Amazon UK and Amazon USA

Similar to the above book, this one is also for any author (trad or indie) looking to give their mindset a check. However, this one is focused much more on the mental highs and lows of writing and the journey we take to publication and beyond. A great one to read and then re-read as you continue in your career.

How to Be a Bawse by Lilly Singh

*Winner of the 2017 Goodreads Choice Awards: Non-Fiction Book of the Year!*

Purchase on Amazon UK or Amazon USA

Listen on Audible UK or Audible USA

This is another one I listened to on audiobook. Lilly is a YouTube sensation. But she’s also an inspiration. Young, ambitious, and super successful. She’s motivational and hilarious to boot. I actually recommend you listen to the audiobook. It’s narrated by Lilly herself and is so much the better for it. If you fancy a feel-good book and a giggle, go listen, NOW!

Deep Work by Cal Newport

Purchase on Amazon UK or Amazon USA

This one is a mind-blower. It’s pretty heavy going, lots of science and research and facts.

But I HIGHLY recommend it. It’s all about the concept of shallow ‘busy’ work versus doing deep effective work. It’s challenging, thought-provoking and a must-read for anyone with a goal.

The War on Art by Steven Pressfield

Purchase on Amazon UK and Amazon USA

I’ve read absolutely every non-fiction book Steven Pressfield’s ever written. I would recommend ANY of them. I particularly like Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t and Do The Work as well as.

He has a particular way of writing. You’ll love it or hate it. I’m the former. I find him inspirational, motivating and the provider of a jolly good kick up the backside!

Grit for Writers by Tamar Sloan

Purchase on Amazon UK or Amazon USA

A fantastic book for authors, all about keeping the right mindset, digging deep and pushing hard to meet all your writing dreams and goals.

If you’ve ever felt the slump, this is a short sharp reminder to pick yourself up and keep on keeping on.

The One Thing by Gary Keller

Purchase on Amazon UK or Amazon USA

Another fantastic book about focus. Gary’s point isn’t that you can’t do and achieve lots of things, just that you have to focus on one at a time. There’s science and research to back up his points. A fascinating read and one that’s sure to change your point of view.

Next up on my to-read list are the following recommended by some author pals.

• Do Less by Kate Northrup purchase on Amazon UK and Amazon USA
• Grit by Angela Duckworth purchase on Amazon UK and Amazon USA
• Daring Greatly by Brene Brown purchase on Amazon UK and Amazon USA
• Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki purchase on Amazon UK and Amazon USA
• Be the Change by Marin McCue purchase on Amazon UK and Amazon USA

Please note because these are books I’ve read and loved, this post does contain affiliate links.

11 of The Best Self-Help Books for Writers #indieauthor #selfpublishing #IARTG #ASMRG #writingcommunity
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So that’s my reading list. What about yours? What self-help books for writers have you read or would you recommend? Let me know in the comments.

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If you enjoyed this post, you might like these:

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The post 11 of The Best Self-Help Books for Writers appeared first on Sacha Black.

But worse, if you’re anything like me, you’re completely incapable of realizing you’re tired, let alone reaching the brink of total burnout. I’m blind to burnout. It’s like fighting a custom built invisible demon while blindfolded and strapped into a straight jacket. Suffice to say, I’ve probably gone through at least six months of piss poor writing performance, chronic exhaustion, a terrible mindset and insomnia. Because I know what’s useful when you’re tired, NOT SLEEPING.

Okay, I’ll wind my neck in because I like to be a sparkling ray of positivity here.

LIES.

We all know I’m a scathingly cynical, intensely sarcastic rage-beast from the depths of your nightmares.  But that slight tangent aside, I do like to be helpful.

So here’s me being helpful:

Look, the only real way to get around burn out is to rest. And I mean really rest. The feet up, Game of Thrones binge watch type rest. But when was rest ever fun? If like me, you’d rather stick a fork in your eye than slow down, then here are some suggestions to help you re-focus and produce more.

THE ZEN OF ONE

I’ve talked at lengths about focus and productivity. There’s no one size fits all method for mastering productivity.

Except there actually is.

Forget the plague of ‘multitaskers’ and ‘plate spinners’ it’s all an illusion baby. They’re not really being productive, they’re giving themselves a one-way ticket to a fractured and overwhelmed mind and a severe case of cortisol-induced heart failure.

One task at a time people.

O.N.E.

One book.

One story.

One word.

It’s the only way to be truly productive. Science and Cal Newport (author of Deep Work) says so. I’ve written about how narrowing your focus and just working on one task is better for your brain, for your productivity, and for your output

Newport’s point is that we’re plagued by notifications and distractions and minutia. It floods our tiny brains and nukes our ability to focus. No focus, no output. The point is, you need to purge yourself from being switched on all the time. Grasp the silence like the holy grail it is. It’s okay not to reply to comments or check every Facebook notification. The only thing you’re missing is Aunt Bessy’s missing cat and the shit replica of Jamie Oliver’s latest recipe that your long forgotten school friend attempted.

Silence is golden. So is one task.

You can get Cal’s book here: AmazonUK AmazonCOM

RE-PRIORITISE

When you’re burned out, chances are, even a to-do list of three things is going to feel like an anvil to the head. It does for me. As soon as I’m tired (which is all the time), I slip into MUST DO ALL OF THE THINGS mode… Every tiny detail gets slapped on an obscene sized to do list and I stress and worry about all of them. Until I take a breath and remind myself that no one is going to die if an Instagram photo isn’t taken, or if I haven’t tweeted, or set up a new AMS ad.

What’s the big picture here?

No books, no sales. No sales, no full-time writing.

Words.

Words are always the priority. Everything else can wait.

DELEGATION DIVA

Ask yourself what are the things only you can do? Realistically its anything that involves your creativity i.e. your books, your podcast, speaking gigs etc. Everything else can be done by others. If you’re on the brink of burn out, then seriously, it’s time to ask for help. Get a cleaner, find a Virtual Assistant, splurge on scheduling software, get an accountant. Whatever, but it’s time to accept you’re not a superhero and you need help.

Collaboration is efficient. You’ll do more in less time.

It’s okay to ask for help.

PUT THE BIG GIRL PANTS AWAY

You know what else is okay?

Not to be okay.

I mean it. Writers are so hard on themselves. We’re expected to churn out words, market like a machine, hold down day jobs, mom like a master and still be a sane spouse. We’re just one person. We can’t do everything, we can’t run houses and full-time jobs and author businesses and still be resolutely positive. And if you can, take your candyfloss colored cheer pants over to the corner and face the wall.

It’s okay not to wear your big girl pants. Accept that you’re not okay, let the feelings exist, and then, when you’re ready, pick yourself up and soldier on.

Oh, and try meditation.

Who else has suffered from burnout? Let me know in the comments – what top tips do you have for recovery?

Footnotes:

1. No keyboards have been harmed… although they may have been sworn at, smeared in coffee and had sugar crumbs smushed into their crevasses.

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If you want awesome writing tips, you can grab a copy of my book 13 Steps To Evil – How to Craft Superbad Villains. Click this link and tap the logo of your reading device or regular bookshop and it will take you to the right page. You can also get a FREE villains cheatsheet by joining my mailing list just click here.

You can also find me on  Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Goodreads

The post The Burnout Bitch: writers beware appeared first on Sacha Black.

Not so much people, not so much.

I’ve written more than one book, but Victor was my second fiction book. That seemed to make a difference.

Victor was SO much harder to write than Keepers. I’ve heard that ‘second-book-syndrome’ is a real thing. I mean, I’m not a debut author anymore, but likewise, I’m not a seasoned pro yet either. In true YA fashion, imma go right ahead and think of myself as a sophomore!

It meant that starting this book, I knew how the process of writing and editing would work, I knew the graft would be hard grueling and yet, I had the delightful bonus pressure of ensuring Victor was as good as (although preferably better) than Keepers.

But of course, I’m only a sophomore, so the ‘process’ I’d so arrogantly predicted I’d use, didn’t go anything like to plan. My beautiful, glorious ‘plan’ got hoovered into a freaking hurricane of doubt, pressure, and paralysis.

I wrote Keepers in a chronological order. I’d assumed Victor would go the same way. Victor wasn’t playing ball. Knowing the character, I should have expected trouble. He’s a right bastard that one.

Anyway.

Book two means more. MORE everything.

I needed to make sure the characters were consistent, I picked up all the storylines, the world building details weren’t cocked up by a slip of my perpetually senile memory. And all while, I was trying to develop and grow my writing craft.

I’ll be honest, Mt Everest felt like a walk in the park compared to this book, and I should know, I’ve trekked to base camp. For the first time in my life, I wasn’t sure I could reach my goal. I haven’t talked about this anywhere really, but it’s launch day, so I clearly defeated the beast, which is why I feel comfortable sharing this with you.

I stalled partway through writing Victor.

And we’re not talking a minor stumble and oops-a-daisy. We’re talking titana-berg levels of sinking fuck up.

In five years, I haven’t gone more than a couple of (a few at most) days without penning words. But smack in the middle of writing Victor I knew something was wrong with the story, and I car crashed HARD. For THREE excruciatingly long weeks. I thought I’d never write again. No words were coming to me. My mind was a literal black hole and Victor had bumbled his difficult ass right into it. I convinced myself I was a one-hit wonder.

But then my amazing beta reader made a comment about one particular location in the book, and BOOM. I immediately knew what was wrong and how to fix it. I tore up the opening chapters and rewrote them, from scratch. After that, it was a sprint to the finish.

Why am I sharing this?

Because I think it’s important to be real. To share not just the highs but the blisteringly painful obstacles we face on our roads. Life IS a journey and no journey is a straight road. Too often I forget that the beauty is in the journey itself. Once you reach your goal it’s all over.

I’m also sharing this because if anything, I’m even MORE proud of publishing Victor than Keepers. Yes, it was harder, but that’s made the completion all the sweeter.

Last, I’m sharing this because if it inspires just one person to keep going when their goal gets tough, then it was worth writing. Remember, only the persistent win. Just keep typing.

The post Victor Launch Day – Plus a dose of Second Book Syndrome appeared first on Sacha Black.

But what to do? What to do? What if you have a series? What if you have a single book? What if you write non-fiction?

I recently *praise the literary gods* managed to land the holy grail of marketing – a Bookbub. I’ve learned a few things about pricing along the way and wanted to share my experience.

Before anyone gets their book-knickers in a twist, I’m not suggesting THIS strategy is THE glorious sales panacea that will work every time, hell it might not even work for you – I do write in a specific genre and anyone with an ounce of marketing sense will appreciate that genres vary as much as my mood during the final week of editing!

Here’s what I’ve learned about book pricing

I wrote a post not so long ago on The State of The Industry which reviewed the findings of the recent author earnings report. It has an examination of what we’re earning and price point sensitivity. If you haven’t read it, it’s worth a look. But the biggest takeaways for me were:

1. Books no longer NEED to be bargain basement, there’s a gradual rise in pricing again (although cheaper books are still easier to shift by the metric crap ton).
2. $1.99 seems to be a bit of a dead price point – while it is still used and selling, you as the author are on 35% royalty on Amazon, which means you get bugger all, and if you’re going to get bugger all, you might as well get it at 99c/p and sell a ton more books.

Series Pricing

With series, you can get out your winner pompoms and do a happy dance because, with more books, you have more pricing flexibility. Oh, I recently wrote a resident writing coach post over on Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi’s so read that for tips on How NOT to Mess Up Your Series.

Now, try not to twitch buuuut, if you’re a relative unknown, then money shouldn’t be at the forefront of your mind. What should be in the gooey bits of your grey matter is gaining AS MANY READERS (and subscribers – but that’s a blog for a different day) as possible.

If you’re anything like me, then book one in your series was slaved over for an unacceptable amount of time, so parting with it at a bargain basement price is like having acid dropped on your tongue. But go back and read that previous paragraph. The point is, you want readers. Readers you can turn into lifelong fans who will continue to buy your books.

If you have a six book series, then losing money or earning a minimal royalty on book one doesn’t matter so much because you have five other books to earn your groceries from. So price book one low, as low as you can stand in order to gain as many readers as possible. At the end of the day, no one’s going to read book four if they haven’t read book one, two and three first.

The Prequel Novella 

If you absolutely can’t stand to drop the price of book one then a strategy I’m seeing more and more frequently would be to write a prequel or a short story of some variety or another that you can use purposefully at a low price point to hook readers.

Word of warning – if you do use the prequel/novella strategy, don’t rush out a mediocre brain vomit of a story. This is going to be a reader’s first impression of you, you need it to be supercallerfragalistically awesome or you can kiss goodbye to later book sales.

I’m currently in the process of writing a prequel novella for mailing list building purposes rather than using it as my series entry point because I want book one to be the book that people read first. So I‘ll put my novella on sale BUT I’ll give it away for free to subscribers – if I get extra sales from non-subscribers then bonus for me.

What will I price it? I don’t know yet, it sort of depends on how long it turns out, but either 99c/p, 1.99c/p or if it’s closer to novel length then maybe 2.99c/p – super specific I know. Sozbuckles.

The Real Cost of Marketing 

If you’re going to advertise your books, then I hope, you’ll be assessing their performance and ROI (return on investment). You’ll probably find when pricing a book one at super low prices, for example, 99c/p, that you don’t appear (at face value) to be getting a return on investment. BUT you need to take into consideration whether you’re getting an increase in sales on later books – called ‘sale through’ (or read through). If you are – then losing a bit on book one is fine because you’re making the profit back on later books.

There’s some nifty math you can do to work this out, but my math is about as good as my ability to follow rules. So I’ll recommend a book instead – check out Brian D. Meek’s Mastering Amazon Ads for a bunch of wicked sick knowhow on AMS ads and the nifty read through sums.

BookBub

The BookBub was for Keepers (which is currently still 99c/p by the way). Usually priced at 2.99 (it’s the first book in the series). I dropped it to 99c/p for the sale.

I also immediately put Victor on pre-order. I’ve heard that while BookBubs make their money back, typically, you earn the bucks on the sale through – there’s that word again. So I took the plunge and put Victor on pre-order. Oh, you can pre-order it here.

And yes, I did get some pre-orders so I’m convinced that little nugget of sales goodness is worth listening to.

I wanted to see what the BookBub did in isolation, so I made a point of not promoting it anywhere else. Previously my BookBub tail lasted about three days. Which was a similar experience this time. So after three days, I was surprised to find I was still selling copies. I can only put this down to the fact I had a sales rank boost and the book was still at 99c/p. So I’m now using other slower burn ads to keep the sales ticking over and praise be the bookish gods, it’s working, and the pre-orders are still trickling in too.

What I’d Do Next Time 

Well for one, I wasn’t expecting to get accepted – so I’d already done a weeks ad stacking not that long ago which meant I couldn’t apply for ads like Robin Reads or eReader News Today. So I might reconsider when I apply next time!

• But book ads on other platforms on the days around the BookBub
• Now I’ve experimented with a pure BookBub, I’d do more by way of promoting the sale to subscribers and on social media as I’m less worried about the effectiveness and more concerned with sales.
• Wait until I had at LEAST three books out in my series. 

Tips On Getting A BookBub

I don’t claim to be an expert on BookBub Featured Deals, but having managed to get more of them than not, I thought I’d share a couple of things I’ve done to secure them

1. Make sure your cover is shit hot shiny (for the literal ones of you out there, I don’t actually mean shiny, I just mean good quality) and something that fits in with the other covers in your genre
2. Have an enticing blurb
3. As many reviews as you possibly can – I went on a review drive after being rejected the first time. I secured a ton more reviews, applied again, and boom boom shake the sales, I got one.
4. Use the comments box – actual humans read your application so talk to them… like humans! Say whatever you can, all your successes, mention the number of reviews on all the Amazon’s and GoodReads. Editorial reviews and previous success.
5. Being wide is generally preferred from what I can tell
6. Be flexible with dates
7. Be willing to accept an international one (which excludes the U.S.A)

Non-fiction Pricing

With my non-fiction, I spent a long time with 13 Steps To Evil priced at 2.99c/p for the ebook. But having gone out and looked at comparative authors and books in my genre, I discovered that for the length of the book, I was actually underpricing. After crippling self-doubt and a bout of fear induced hyperventilation, I convinced myself to up the price to 3.99c/p.

What difference did it make to sales? Absolutely none. I continued seeing the same amount of sales month on month, only now I was earning more on each sale. WINNER POM POMS! Am I going to stick at 3.99? No not forever. I’d like to rise it to 4.99 but I need an injection of confidence first and probably some more books out!

So yeah – market research, don’t be afraid to experiment… Did I mention experimenting? DO IT. Do it like it’s pancakes smothered in bacon and syrup and you haven’t eaten in seven weeks.

N.B. as a vegetarian with a severe hatred of bacon I find the previous metaphor utterly repulsive. So for the veggies out there, take your pick of wine, chocolate or tofu.

Let me summarise:

1. Experimentation is sales oxygen – just because some marketing demigod has said they priced their book on the fictional life of potato peel at 20.99 does not mean that it will a) work for your more mainstream book about a superhero and b)that you should take it on face value and not experiment for yourself. EXPERIMENT PEOPLE. Do the work. Find out you’re own stinking lessons.
2. Stick at a winning price forever – let’s say you hit on a cushy price that ramps up the sales volume. That doesn’t mean you need to stick with it forever. Unless you experiment you won’t know if you can up your price without affecting sales or not. Did I mention experimenting? No? Well, you should. Just saying.
3. Don’t undervalue your work – This is especially true of non-fiction you’d be surprised at what you can price and still make sales. But the only way to find out is to… yeah, you feel me, EXPERIMENT.
4. Covers and blurbs – even if your books free, if you have a second-rate cover and a boring blurb, no reader is going to pick up your book.
5. Non-fiction can be priced higher than fiction 
6. Sale through – remember that you might lose money when advertising book one in your series, but if you have many other books in your series, then check your sale through profit before ditching an advert.
7. Market research – go look in your genre and check comparative authors – what are they pricing – that’s your benchmark.

***

How do you guys price your books, whether fiction, non-fiction or series books? Let me know in the comments.

Read Keepers, the first book in my Young Adult fantasy series for just 99c now. Or to hear more about the release of the sequels as well as get regular CogMail updates you can do so here.

You can get more awesome writing tips in my book 13 Steps To Evil – How to Craft Superbad Villains. Click this link and just tap the logo of your device or regular bookshop and it will take you to the right page. You can also get a FREE villains cheatsheet by joining my mailing list just click here.

You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Goodreads

The post Book Pricing Strategies #MondayBlogs #amwriting appeared first on Sacha Black.

I launched Keepers, the first in my Young Adult fantasy series in November 2017.

I am in the final straight with Victor. I have about 10,000 words or so left to write and a full (short) edit. Then, I hope, it will be ready to go to the editor. Even if I have to get the hot glue gun out and superglue my ass to my office chair, this sequel is being finished THIS month.

My hope is to publish Victor sometime between late April and mid-May.

Without further ado, here is the brand spanking, shit hot shiny, new cover:

But what I love most, is when you’re able to see TWO books together in your series. Now THAT is quite a feeling… and I’ve just commissioned the prequel cover too… *squeal*

Read Keepers, the first book in my Young Adult fantasy series now. Or to hear more about the release of the sequels as well as get regular CogMail updates you can do so here.

You can get more awesome writing tips in my book 13 Steps To Evil – How to Craft Superbad Villains. Click this link and just tap the logo of your device or regular bookshop and it will take you to the right page. You can also get a FREE villains cheatsheet by joining my mailing list just click here.

You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Goodreads

The post Cover Reveal: Victor #2 in the Eden East YA fantasy novels #amreading appeared first on Sacha Black.

So what’s a gal to do to keep up with the latest trends, and data?

Last week I wrote a post that details a few ways to learn how to market and keep up with current trends, but for now, you should also read the latest author earnings report.

I’m going to highlight a few of the most salient trends and things I thought were worth noting.

Data Guy and Hugh Howey are the engines behind Author Earnings, their analytics run in real time capturing data on over a million top-selling titles on Amazon. There is nothing more up to date or more comprehensive than this data.

Although, like any good little data girl should do, there are still caveats to apply. Like the fact this data only covers America. But before you snub that pretty lil’ nose of yours at me, that’s still a tidy $1.3 BILLION in book sales.

Headlines

ONE – ONLINE IS KING

We all know that physical bookstores are struggling, we only have to nod to the fact there have been so many closures to know that. But what I found most interesting is the fact that while ‘by units sold’ ebooks are king, paperbacks are still reigning champs on total $$. Of course, part of that is because physical books are much more expensive, but also because academic books are having a resurgence that skews the figures.

TWO – EBOOKS ARE QUEEN

Overwhelmingly ebooks are now dominant for adult fiction. Data Guy reports that over 90% of romance books purchased are eBooks and a similarly high figure (75%) for science fiction and fantasy.

THREE – PERENNIAL SELLING

We all love a bit of spike marketing. Anything that lodges a firework up my book’s butt and shoves it firmly into the ‘orange tag’ arena is fine by me. But spikes don’t last. And a good marketer will try to create a perennial seller, something that when the launch chips are down, is still bringing in the dosh.

That’s what eBooks do according to Data Guy. With no significant difference in units sold throughout the year, eBooks just keep on selling. Paperbacks, however, not so much. The ol’ academic books strike again, creating an enormous spike over the summer.

FOUR – INDIE SUPERSTARS  

2017 saw a lot of rumors, indie’s losing market share, a decline in book sales etc etc etc. But Data Guy puts it all to rest. Indies grew, again by 2.1% compared to 1.1% growth in the trad industry.

Data Guy also happened to comment that the indie superstars who surfaced with the rise of self-publishing no longer make the top 50 best sellers – and that a new ‘guard’ of indies, a quieter less ‘evangelical’ bunch are taking the top spots. Quite the controversial statement. All I care about is the fact my indie brothers and sisters are still smashing it.

The thing I find most encouraging are these little statistical beauts:

• “7 of the top 100 selling ebook authors in the US were self-published indies
• 50 of the top 250 selling ebook authors in the US were self-published indies
• 121 of the top 500 selling ebook authors in the US were self-published indies
• 284 of the top 1,000 selling ebook authors in the US were self-published indies
• 102 of the top 1,000 selling ebook authors in the US were published by Amazon imprints” Author earnings report, Data Guy, and Hugh Howey

FIVE – PRICE POINT

The report is rich with information, but it’s Data Guy’s report, so I won’t talk about his findings much more. Just read it. But the last item I will raise is the price point.

For a LONG time, there’s been debate over whether free and 99c books were bringing down the value of books, that authors were losing money and not being paid fairly. But the data is showing another picture. While I agree that the price of books did dip. I think it is beginning to rise again.

While 99c might still be the most popular price point for turnover of units, 3.99, 2.99 and 4.99 respectively are hot on it’s heels. It’s no longer necessary to continuously discount your books, because even on the dollars table, 99c isn’t top. And sure, at 99c you’re only taking home 35% royalty, but the point is, even the turnover of units doesn’t offset the income from the higher price points (at lower sales).

The lesson here? Use 99c sales for spike marketing, sure, but don’t feel obliged to keep your books on sale. It’s neither necessary or needed to sell books. That being said, a writer friend said something to me last week that struck home – ‘rules are there to be broken’. Well A-Fucking-Men folks. And that’s sort of the point, no matter what the data says, no matter what bullshit rules there are, the only thing that’s needed is a marketing plan, experimentation with advertising, grit and a whole lotta perseverance. But that’s a topic for another day.

There were also items in Data Guy’s report on audiobooks – which are still growing and a ton of other insightful trends.

You might also want to look at: 

Written Word Media’s trends for 2018

Joanna Penn’s trends

and Jane Friedman’s post who rounds up a few articles discussing upcoming trends.

If you liked this post, why not get even more awesome writing tips in the book 13 Steps To Evil – How to Craft Superbad Villains. Click this link and just tap the logo of your device or regular bookshop and it will take you to the right page. You can also get a FREE villains cheatsheet by joining my mailing list just click here.

Read Keepers, the first book in my Young Adult fantasy series now. Or to hear more about the release of the sequels as well as get regular CogMail updates you can do so here.

You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Goodreads

The post Author Earnings – The State of The Industry #MondayBlogs #amwriting appeared first on Sacha Black.

Anyway. I’m leashing my rant because contrary to excessive sarcasm and perpetual moaning, there is nothing I love more than helping people, especially if that help leads to selling or publishing books. And you know what helps you sell books?

Forehead creasing, caffeine addictions, midnight dates, multiple RSI cures and a laptop for a BFF.

Okay, fine. There are a few other things that rise out of the sweaty exhausted writer ashes to help bring in the dollars:

• Understanding the market
• Studying marketing
• Studying copywriting
• Experimenting
• Being up to date with current trends

So here’s 6 tips to help you study the industry, learn the latest trends and strategies and pick up on the hottest new marketing tools.

ONE – POD-TASTIC 

I listen to a bunch of podcasts. Anytime I’m in the car, at work, out walking, even cooking in the kitchen. Why? Because they’re current. They are recorded more or less the same week they air and the hosts tend to interview industry leading professionals. AND because they’re recorded and released so fast, the hosts report the latest news – from algorithm changes on social media and Amazon, to the most recent big chain bookstore closure, to the newest piece of software for authors. I can honestly say I’ve picked up an obscene number of tips and tricks from them.

Podcast Faves

Creative Penn

Sell More Books Show

Science Fiction & Fantasy Marketing

Self-Publishing Formula

The Self-Publishing Podcast

Ask ALLi Podcast

TWO – AUTHOR EARNINGS REPORT

The author earnings report used to be a quarterly report from the infamous Data Guy. They paused those reports in the spring of last year after supercharging their analytics. Which now run in real time 24/7. They capture data on over a million top-selling titles a day, every day. If you sold a book (even just one) since April last year, they know about it.

Their data is now so accurate and so current that they’ve become industry leaders able to accurately (with hard data) describe the state of the industry, and it’s not as bad as you think.

I don’t know how frequently they will post reports now they are up and running again, but unless Data Guy wants to break my heart, I’m hoping it will be quarterly, in much the same way it used to be. Sign up for their updates. Or don’t. But that would be stupid. So sign up. And you can check out their latest report using their new hardcore data machine, here. I’ll be posting my thoughts on the report shortly.

THREE – SWIPE FILES

When it comes to marketing, one of the most important things you can do, is learn how to write awesome emails. If you don’t have a subscriber list, slap yourself with your keyboard and sort your life out. I’ve written some how-to posts on mailing lists here:

4 Mistakes To Avoid When Using MailChimp 

7 Tips To Create Your Perfect Author Newsletter

But I also have a swipe file folder in my iCloud – every time I see someone selling something, whether it be a marketing tool, books, or otherwise, I sign up to their newsletters and drop their emails into my swipe file. Then when I have time, or I’m about to set up a series of my own marketing content, I analyze the copywriting in the swipe files:

• What subject lines do they use?
• What are the sentences that draw me in?
• How do they use grammar to keep the flow going?
• What’s the tone?

And on and on. I use the findings I gather from analyzing their words to help me write better copy for my own work.

Also – check out CopyHackers – I’ve learned a bunch from them.

FOUR – COPYWRITING BLURBS AND SYNOPSES

What’s copywriting?

Wiki says:

“Copywriting is the act of writing text for the purpose of advertising or other forms of marketing. The product, called copy, is written content that aims to increase brand awareness and ultimately persuade a person or group to take a particular action.”

In other words, it’s the blurbs, the taglines, click-bait headlines, and the catchphrases of the world.

Briefly, there are a million resources you can find online on headline writing – I’ve even written a post here, on writing clickable headlines.

Three things sell your books. Okay, fine, stop whining, there are lots of variables that help. But broadly, there are three key things that make a reader click that sexy buy button:

• Cover
• Blurb
• Reviews

And typically in that order too. Having a catchy blurb is as important as my morning coffee, which if you know me, is essentially an injection of oxygen. But blurb writing is the bitch of publishing. I don’t know many authors that enjoy penning them, mostly because we hav to sell our modest selves, and after writing 80,000 words of story, condensing it into a paragraph is like sticking needles in your eyes. No one wants that.

To make your blurbs awesome, you need to learn how to awesomize them *that’s 100% a word*

The obvious answer is to read a ton of blurbs, analyze them and file them away as lessons. I wrote a post about blurbs here, but there’s also a couple of books I recommend:

Sizzling Synopsis

Write A Great Synopsis

FIVE – WEBSITES AND BLOGS

There’s endless advice online. Not all of it is good. But there are a few websites that are both a goldmine of information as well as being on point for tactics, marketing, and industry information. Here’s just a handful of recommendations:

David Gaughran

Joanna Penn

Jane Friedman 

FIVE – BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

Marketing books tend to be split between tangible tactics and marketing strategy. You need a strategy in place for your marketing to keep you driving towards one resounding goal, whether that’s selling a million books, winning an award, or being a super fly niche queen and in your genre.

Marketing tactics are the things you do to achieve those goals. Here’s a selection of books I highly recommend:

How To Market A Book by Joanna Penn

Nobody Wants To Read Your Shit by Steven Pressfield

Let’s Get Digital by David Gaughran

Mastering Amazon Ads by Brian D. Meeks

SIX – PUBLISHER AND INDUSTRY SITES

 The Digital Reader

Bookbaby

Bookbub Partners Blog

***

There are a ton of other things you can do – like joining Facebook groups, going to conferences, I went to the 20BooksTo50k conference in Runnymede this past weekend and I’m also going to the London Book Fair in April.

How do you guys learn to market better? Let me know in the comments.

If you liked this post, why not get even more awesome writing tips in the book 13 Steps To Evil – How to Craft Superbad Villains. Click this link and just tap the logo of your device or regular bookshop and it will take you to the right page. You can also get a FREE villains cheatsheet by joining my mailing list just click here.

Read Keepers, the first book in my Young Adult fantasy series now. Or to hear more about the release of the sequels as well as get regular CogMail updates you can do so here.

You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Goodreads

The post Learn How To Market Your Books #MondayBlogs #amwriting appeared first on Sacha Black.

Anyhoozle, of my 52 books, I wanted a quarter to be indie published, and a quarter to be non-fiction, because 1. supporting other authors, and 2. I’m a knowledge whore.

I’ve been surprised and delighted by looking back at my reading list, some of the stats have shocked me.

So, the stats, out of my 52 books (because I know what the final couple are):

• 26 (50%) were non-fiction
• 26 (50%) were fiction
• 27 (53%) were from self-published authors (of which a couple were author friends with publishing deals)
• 25 (48%) were traditionally published books
• 20 of the 26 fiction books were Young Adult (no surprises there!) Although the biggest shocker for me this year was that only 9 were fantasy, 11 were contemporary YA. I had a feeling I’d been leaning towards contemporary, but I was surprised to realise I’d read MORE contemporary than fantasy.

I’ve had a couple of characters that would fit a contemporary story flitting around my head, so I might start listening – obviously I’ve been bending towards it for a reason.

You can see the rest of the books I’ve read here.

So to my top 10 books of this year, and my top 10 books (plus predictions for next year).

BEST OF 2017

Fiction Books of 2017 (in no particular order)

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

Oath Breaker by Shelley Wilson

Orbiting Jupiter by G. D. Schmidt

A Semi Definitive List of Worst Nightmares by Krystal Sutherland

The Watch and Wand by Allie Potts

Keepers by me (because obviously I’m going to include my own books! :p)

Non-Fiction Books of 2017

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

Deep Work by Cal Newport

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert

Nobody Wants To Read Your Shit Anyway by Stephen Pressfield

13 Steps To Evil – How To Craft A Superbad Villain by me (because obvs)

And What of 2018? Predictions and Books to Watch Out For

Okay so I’ve got a couple of predictions for 2018

1. There’s been a TON of superhero books published by the big YA authors – Leigh Bardugo, Marie Lu, Marissa Meyer to name but a few. With Infinity Wars coming next year, I’ve no doubt that were going to see an explosion of superhero books.
2. In addition, I think there might be more pirate novels too
3. Alongside that, more graphic novels
4. Last, I think audio books will continue to rise in popularity
5. Oh, and one more, I think that there will be an increase in co-authored books

10 (that turned into 14) Young Adult Books To Watch Out for in 2018

The sequel to Keepers, by ME!

The Astonishing Colour of After by Emily. X. R. Pan

The Exact Opposite of Okay – Laura Steven

Cruel Prince – Holly Black

Time Bomb –Joelle Charbonneau

Everless – Sara Holland

Zenith – Sasha Alsber & Lindsay Cummings

Children of Blood and Bone – Tomi Adeyemi

Onyx and Ivory Mindee Arnett

Glitter – Aprillynne Pike

War Storm – Victoria Aveyard

A Court of Frost and Starlight – Sarah J. Maas

Obsidio – Aimee Kaufmann and Jay Kristoff

Legendary – Stephanie Garber

That’s it folks, my year in books, my predictions for 2018 and a few books to Keep an eye out for.

If you haven’t bagged your copy of Keepers yet, don’t forget it’s out in all good bookstores now, you can grab your copy here.

You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Goodreads

The post 10 Best Books of 2017 and 10 YA Books to Look Out For in 2018 appeared first on Sacha Black.