15 book box set for 1.99$ (2 weeks only)

Dec 29 - Jan 11th

FOR TWO WEEKS ONLY the Indelibles has put together an incredible set of fifteen complete best-selling novels by Indelibles authors including me, Addison Moore, Susan Kaye Quinn, RaShelle Workman, Chanda Hahn, Magan Vernon, Laura Pauling, Elle Strauss, LM Preston and more! As if the deal couldn't get any better, the Indelibles is offering this limited-edition for an even-more amazing price - $1.99 

That's right. For less than a cup of your favorite coffee you can get fifteen full-length YA novels to feed those readers you got for the Holidays. The deal is only good until 1/11/14, so get your copy TODAY! 

So,Sit back, relax in your favorite reading chair and enjoy 15 Winter Reads from 15 bestselling YA authors. 

There is something to delight every reader in this box set - paranormal romance, futuristic sci-fi, historical, time travel, and contemporary.

15 Winter Reads includes:

The Iron Butterfly by Chanda Hahn: Escaping an experimental prison, Thalia tries to hide her past and her gifts, from her friends. But her past isn't always easy to escape, especially when it hunts you down.

Tremble (Celestra Series) by Addison Moore: Sixteen year-old, Skyla Messenger is a dead girl walking. When her newly remarried mother moves the family to Paragon Island, to a house that is rumored to be haunted, Skyla finds refuge in Logan Oliver, a boy who shares her unique ability to read minds.

Exiled by RaShelle Workman: Venus wakes to find herself no longer on her home planet of Kelari, but on Earth with a week to get back or she'll die.

Dragonfly by Leigh Talbert Moore: Gossip Girl meets VC Andrews in this contemporary family saga. Love, lies, and betrayal become the new normal when Anna enters the world of Jack and Lucy Kyser.

Open Minds and Closed Hearts by Susan Kaye Quinn: When everyone reads minds, a secret is a dangerous thing to keep.

Untraceable by S.R. Johannes: When Grace's forest ranger dad disappears on patrol, she fights town authorities, tribal officials, & nature to prove he's alive. Torn between a new hot boy and cute ex, she heads into the wilderness to find her dad. Soon, she is caught in a web of conspiracy, deception, and murder.

How to Date an Alien and How to Break Up With an Alien by Magan Vernon: Alex Bianchi takes an internship at an alien operations center to pad her college applications but doesn't plan on falling in love with one of its residents. But as Alex's senior year progresses, everything changes and she can't figure out if it is interstellar or if it is just time to break up with an alien.

Flutter of Luv by L.M. Preston: Dawn, the neighborhood tomboy, is happy to be her best friend's shadow. Acceptance comes from playing football after school with the guys on the block while hiding safely behind her glasses, braces, and boyish ways. But Tony moves in, becomes the star Running Back on her school's football team, and changes her world and her view of herself forever.

Watched by Cindy M. Hogan: It takes more than a school trip to change Christy's life. It takes murder.

Clockwise and Clockwiser by Elle Strauss: A follow up to Clockwise, Casey and Nate travel back in time and race against the clock to rescue Casey's rebellious brother Tim from frontline battle in America's civil war.

Glimpse (Zellie Wells #1) and Glimmer (Zellie Wells #2) by Stacey Wallace Benefiel: While working together to figure out what their shared vision means, Zellie discovers that Benjamin is a worthy friend and mentor. If only he could keep his hands off of her - if only she wanted him to...

A Spy Like Me by Laura Pauling: After dodging bullets on a first date, Savvy must decide how far she'll go to protect the ones she loves.

Grasping At Eternity by Karen Amanda Hooper: An eternal soul mate, a supernatural family who has known her for centuries, and lifetimes of erased memories: this is Maryah Woodsen's life. She just doesn't know it yet.

Lacrimosa by Christine Fonseca: In the world of angels and demons, one thing is clear - some sacrifices should never be made. Even for love.

The Secret of Spruce Knoll by Heather McCorkle: The town of Spruce Knoll hides many secrets--and many dangers, among them are that the untimely death of Eren's parents was no accident and that she is far more than she realizes.

So pick up this beauty between now and January 11 at these retailers:

AMAZON

Barnes and Noble

And enjoy all of the wonderful reading you'll be doing as you ring in 2014!

Huge Indie Holiday giveaway!

Here's a HUGE giveaway to celebrate indie authors in 2013.

Tons of swag and books from your favorite indies.

This includes:

• 13 bestselling indies books from Susan Quinn, Rashelle Workman, Chanda Hahn, SR Johannes, and Addison Moore.
• signed posters and swag from Samantha Young, Quinn Loftis, and Chelsea Fine.
• large canvas picture from Gabriel's Hope
• canvas bookbag from utopya
• Other swag from Raine Thomas, Morgan, Tiffany King, CA Kutz, Adam Kutz and much more!!

Happy Holidays to lucky winner :)

PS: It will be shipped after the holidays!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

What's Next by Mike Hartner

So, you’re e-book is out, and you’ve put your paperback up for sale... Congrats! You’re published. Whether self or otherwise, your work is now out in the world waiting for others to read it, and review it. It’s now in the realm of eighty percent of the book readers.

Wait. Eighty percent? What happened to the other twenty?

This is the twenty percent that can’t read. No, they’re not illiterate. They’re actually very intelligent and highly educated in a lot of cases. They’re people who have trouble with the sense of sight. Some are blind, others partially. Some from glaucoma. Some from detached retinas. And for many, this change came in the later years of their life.

And now, they wait patiently. They wait for someone to read audio to them. Or record a novel in audio format. Any audio format. Any novel.

And they wait.

So, here is the easiest way you can help this twenty percent to enjoy your book: Record it. Go to ACX.com. It is THE Audiobook Creation eXchange. Want to read your own book? Great! Record it and send it to them. They’ll help with the formatting, and they’ll help open it to audible.com and iTunes.com, as well as track most of the sales. Prefer to have someone else read it? Great! That option is open, too. And if you are on a shoestring budget and prefer not to pay for the whole thing at once, then there’s a possibility of revenue sharing with the producer. Hey! It’s an option, and a pretty good one at that. You get to specify the dialects and accents of the people reading your story, and you get to review that selection by listening to these people audition for your book. Go for it. Capture that extra twenty percent of the market.

About the Author:

Mike Hartner was born in Miami in 1965. He’s traveled much of the continental United States. He has several years post secondary education, and experience teaching and tutoring young adults. Hartner has owned and run a computer firm for more than twenty-five years. He now lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with his wife and child. They share the neighborhood and their son with his maternal grandparents. You can visit Mike at his website.

Bookcards, a neat marketing idea by Alicia Kat Vancil

Hello my little samurai kitties!

So what’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think book promotion? I can bet about 90% of you just thought of bookmarks. And for the most part, bookmarks are great. They are easy to produce, fairly inexpensive, and are the only bit of marketing that is associated directly with books. They are both nice to look at and functional. There’s just one problem; if you don’t have a book to immediately place that bookmark in, they can be a bit awkward and cumbersome. Enter the Bookcard, an idea I came up with after about two years of carrying bookmarks around in my purse. What’s a Bookcard? A Bookcard is like a small bookmark and business card for your book all in one. They fit easily into pockets, card holders, and the like, and can still be used to mark your place in a book. Nifty, right? Additionally, they can hold roughly the same information as a bookmark and most people are used to handling them. So let’s look at a few instances where Bookcards are a great thing to have.

Scenario One: Say you’re at an industry gala event (like I was a few weeks ago), and you get into a conversation with another attendee. Through the course of the conversation they ask, “what do you do?” After explaining that you are a writer, the next thing you will probably be asked is,  “what do you write?” If you have a Bookcard, you will have something shiny to hand them as you give a short (emphasis on short!) explanation of your work. Why is this visual aid important? Because numerous studies have shown that people respond better to, and remember, information that is presented to them along with a visual aid.

Scenario Two: Say you’re at a live event (conference, convention, festival etc.), and an attendee is interested in your book. However, they have a Kindle or other eReader device that they prefer to read books on instead of paper copies. Instead of telling them the name of your book—and hoping they remember it long enough to actually go download a copy—you can simply hand them a Bookcard. Now they have something pretty to remind them they were interested in said book, and you are much more likely to gain a new reader.

Scenario Three: Say you’re at a live event (conference, convention, festival etc.), and you’ve just made your short pitch to the potential reader. They aren’t ready to purchase your book at the moment because they’ve either spent all their money already, are running off to a panel or lunch, or you are standing somewhere other than at your table/booth. Instead of just letting them walk away, you can hand them a Bookcard as a parting gift, and they will be much more likely to get your book when they are able than if you just let them walk away cardless.

Elements of a successful Bookcard

Now that you have a few reasons why Bookcards are an awesome addition to your book marketing arsenal, let’s talk about the Bookcards themselves. Bookcards are a double-sided standard business card and contain the following:

Cover image

Author name

Author website url

Quote (20 words or less)

Title page font graphic or Series logo (optional)

Series name & Book number  (optional)

The Front Side

The cover image is arguably the most important part and can be presented in two different ways. You can have the image fill the entire space of the card which will usually cause a bit of it to be cut off. Or you can add black or white bars to the bottom and top similarly to how they present non-anamorphic widescreen movies on a TV. Due to the nature of the cover design for Daemons in the Mist and The Storm behind Your Eyes, I went for the colored bars option.

The Back Side

The back side of your Bookcard should at the very least have the title of the book, your name, your author website URL, and a short quote from the book. Optionally, you can also include the title page font graphic or series logo, and the series/trilogy name and book number. My book trilogy, The Marked Ones, has a graphic that represents the trilogy and appears behind the book’s name on the internal title page, so I used that graphic on the back of my Bookcards. Below it I also included the trilogy name, and what number book it was. Why do this? Because the visual helps break up the wall of text on the back, and is also more visually stimulating. Don’t have a series graphic? Don’t worry, you can use font size, color, and spacing to help break up the text.

Picking Your Quotes

Do you have a tagline for your book, like this one I have for Daemons in the Mist? “Accidentally marrying a beautiful stranger—what’s the worst that could happen?” Yes? Then use it. Don’t have a tagline? Then chose a few good lines from your book. Mind you, don’t just choose a phrase you like—that you think sounds good—pick something important. Because you only have 20 words or less and you gotta make them count. 

When choosing a good line for your Bookcards make sure it either:

• Reflects the story as a whole.
• Gives a tantalizing taste of the narrative.
• Gives us an insight into the way the main character thinks.

A few common questions I’m asked about Bookcards

I have a series/trilogy, how many cards do I make?

However many cards you decide to make, make the most of book one. Why? Because unless you are super famous like JK Rowling, or the event is dedicated just to you, chances are most people at the event will have never heard of you or your books. So unless the attendee thinks your Bookcards are really pretty (and if you or your designer do a great job they probably will), they will usually only pick up a card for the first book. Thus you want the most cards of book one.

I have a few books out but they are stand alones, what do I do?

Do you have a table/booth at an event? Yes? Then make one Bookcard for each book and place them near/in front of said book. No? Then pick one. Yes, one, and make that the Bookcard you hand out. Why? Because just as bookmarks are cumbersome, so are an abundance of cards. Especially when you are not at an event, but a casual setting like a Starbucks line. How do you know which one to pick? Well, you can either pick your first book, your newest book, or the one that already sells the best. Really, as long as you have a great short pitch for the book, any of those will do as a first impression. Because the person can just learn about your other books on your author website.

How many different card variations should I make?

I would say 2 or 3 for starters. I made 5 for each of my books the first time around. However, I have also  been doing events for many years, and know how many cards I go though at a big con or festival.

Who did you use to print yours?

I used Overnight Prints for my Bookcards, and I chose the Value Cards with UV gloss on both sides.  I ordered 50-100 of each design since I was making 10 different designs. Factoring in cost, current sales discounts, and shipping, and each Bookcard will run you between 10-15 cents. Not too bad I think.

*Note: If you want to be able to sign the cards or write on them at all, do NOT choose the UV coating. If you have to write on the UV coating, then the only thing that works is Sharpie...kinda.

So there you are my fine feline friends, a little bit about Bookcards, their usefulness, and a few pointers for easily increasing your readership.

About the Author

Alicia Kat Vancil grew up in the heart of Silicon Valley where she amused herself by telling stories to anyone around her—her family, her friends...random strangers. Eventually she actually started writing those stories down instead of just spending hours hanging out in fake Ikea living rooms and telling her friends about them. Somewhere amongst all the character-torturing and epic explosions she managed to get a BFA in Illustration from the Academy of Art University and open a graphics studio (Multi-tasking for the win!).

Kat still lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, two very crazy studio cats, and nine overfull bookcases. And when not running a muck in the imaginary worlds within her head, Kat can usually be found performing, watching anime, or hanging out in Twitter chats.

You can catch Kat on Twitter, G+, or visit her website.

How to Create a Unique Book Marketing Plan by Bryan Cohen

Today on the blog we have Bryan Cohen here to talk about creating a unique marketing plan for your book! Do you have a marketing plan for your book? If you don't, are you inspired to make one now?

___________

It feels easier when you have a formula. When coming up with a marketing plan, we like to know what's come before so we have evidence that it will work. We want to crunch numbers and look at charts and see what the best use of our limited funds will be. We want to hear stories about how so-and-so sold 10,000 books in a week with this idea and how what's-her-face became an Amazon best-seller with that idea. There's just one problem. Nothing works as well the second time you do it.

The first blog tours were extremely successful. The first author to hold a Kindle Fire giveaway tied up with the sale of his or her books probably turned a significant profit. The authors who use the data from these once new ideas can't help but get diminishing returns from these secondhand marketing plans. They can't help it. Do you think the second magazine or television advertisement of all time was anywhere near as successful as the first? It just doesn't work like that.

To be as successful as possible, you need to try to come up with an idea that's never been done before. As a peddler of creative writing prompts, I'd like to give you some prompts to ask yourself as you're creating your new marketing campaign.

1. What are five ideas to target my desired audience and why will they work?

It's easy to come up with a general marketing plan. A few guest posts, an advertisement or two and a giveaway. Can you be sure, however, that this plan will reach your target readers? List at least five different ideas and evaluate whether or not the ideas will reach your ideal readers.

2. How do I make these ideas cheaper?

We love the idea of doing these big giveaways of merchandise and hardcover books. If we spend all of our money on one marketing plan, however, we may not be able to diversify and reach the highest number of people possible. Spend time, as opposed to money, and consider giving out or trading services to make your marketing plan less expensive.

3. How much time will these marketing plans require and how will I be able to put in the necessary hours?

Many authors shortchange their marketing plans because they don't put in the necessary time to help the plan flourish. Just as sacrifices must be made to create the time necessary to write the book, sacrifices must be made to free up the time needed for a marketing plan. Come up with ways to set aside that time and your marketing plan will be much more successful.

4. What are five marketing ideas that have never been done before?

It's always better to come up with multiple ideas than it is to think of one. Once you come up with the ideas, look them up to make sure you haven't reinvented the wheel. It's also never a bad idea to run these ideas by a few trustworthy author friends. 

5. How are you going to market the marketing plan?

The first blog tours and giveaways were successful because readers and authors found out about them. You can have the most amazing contest in the world, but if people don't find out about it, your plan won't be worth the website it's printed on.

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The marketing plan you create needs to be an extension of your art. If you've got a book that people will actually want to read, it means you've created art. You must use your artistic abilities to make a marketing plan that is just as unique and exciting as your book.

About the Author

In honor of his new book, Cohen is hosting the “1,000 Prompts, 1,000 Dollars" Writing Contest on his website. Click the link to find out how to enter!

Bryan Cohen is an author, a creativity coach and an actor. His new book, 1,000 Creative Writing Prompts, Volume 2: More Ideas for Blogs, Scripts, Stories and More is now available on Amazon in digital and paperback format. His other books include 1,000 Creative Writing Prompts, The Post-College Guide to Happiness, and Ted Saves the World. He has published over 30 books, which have sold more than 20,000 copies in total. Connect with him on his website, Build Creative Writing Ideas, on Facebook or on Twitter.