Tag: self-publishing

Is advertising worth it?

Google Adwords, Facebook, Goodreads, Oh my! The choices and effectiveness of Advertising your ebook.


Happy Holidays everyone! Only about three weeks left till Christmas, and let me tell you, things are only getting busier from here on out!advertising 2

Today’s post is all about Advertising. More specifically, the types available to authors (on a relatively cheap basis) and whether or not it’s worth it. I’m going to give each type of advertisement a ranking. $ for affordability and stars for effectiveness. Ideally, you want a type that is low cost and high effectiveness, that is, purchases per click!

Opttion 1: Google Adwords: $ (Three Stars)

What you need: Google Account and a CC

How it works: Essentially, you are creating a text or picture advertisement to run alongside Google’s search results or on any google page. So for my Brass Legionnaire, if you typed in the word “Steampunk” you might see my advertisement pop up. The caveat is that you tend to pay by the click. You also need to pick good target words and hope that your book is a match for people doing that search The more you are willing to pay by the click, the more likely you are to get yours seen. But then the more expensive your advertisement campaign becomes.

I tend to run my ‘offers’ for clicks between $1.00 and $1.50 per day. That way, I can pop in fifty dollars and then let it run for a while. Have I seen a huge jump in sales? Not necessarily, but I have seen rather consistent clicking the advertisement, as well as rather consistent sales since I’ve started. Now I cannot individually target this as the factor in all honesty, but I am considering letting it stop at the end of this cycle and seeing what happens to my numbers.

advertising

Option 2: Goodreads (Or other book website/blog) $ (Three and a half stars)

Goodreads and other web blogs are great places to run your book ad. After all, you’re specifically targeting the group of ‘readers’ that you want. I’m not going to run an ad on a Women’s artwork website, I’m going to run it on one that likes to focus on Sci-Fi, fantasy, or history! Thus it is a tiny bit more effective, and if you are on Goodreads, you can see how some information on people clicking on your link. You can make the link go outside the site (and on other blogs) but for goodreads they encourage you to link to your own site on the page. I’m not sure which is better, as I have very limited experience with this site (only 4 days worth of ads.)

Option 3: Facebook $ Two Stars

So you’ve got a facebook account? Do you have a facebook page? Great, then you can run ads! Similar to the way that Google Adwords works, you create an ad then provide a link. Similar to Goodreads, you can link to an external site or to your own facebook group page. I was town between making a Steam Empire Chronicles page and an Author Page. In the end I went for an Author page, figuring that it would be all encompassing should I ever write more books (Which I plan to). Pop in some money, assign a target demographic, and off you go. Was this effective in getting me sales? Probably only a bare few. But it DID get me a much wider target base. Before the ad, I had roughly 20 ‘likes’ on my page. My ad has been running since Thanksgiving, and I’m up to about 55 or so. That seems pretty good to me. And they are people I don’t know! Even better! You have to go into this realizing that you aren’t out to make sales now, more so to build community involvement and interest.

Other advertising service: $-$$$ (three-four stars)

Bookbub and several other advertising services for self-published authors have sprung up like weeds around the proverbial well of writing. In many cases, the services can be overpriced or poorly targeted. Some specific ones are useful, but require that you discount your book in order to purchase an ad slot, and even then they can deny you. So if you’re looking for a specific time to do an advertisement, you’d be out of luck, as I was when I wanted to run Black Friday ads. However, in retrospect I’m sort of glad I didn’t spend $200 on the advertisement. I’m not sure I would have made it back.

Some other information: When I published with Wix, I got $30 free at Google Adwords and $50 free on Facebook for advertisements. Thus, I’ve only paid about $75 (out of my pocket) in advertisement costs total since my book was published. 2/3 of that was to Google. So as you can see, lots of choices, but be careful where you put your money!

Where do you guys advertise that makes the greatest bang for your buck? Or do you eschew advertisements altogether?

 

New Website up and running for Copper Centurion

New Website up and Running for Copper Centurion! Check it out now!


Go ahead! You know you want to indulge yourself with some more Roman-y-Steampunky-goodness! It’s okay! I feel the same way! Click HERE now!

 

Yes, it’s okay to feel excitement. I do too.

Self-Publishing – Pricing an ebook

A brief look at how to effectively price your ebook, in both the short and long term.


Hi all,

In Today’s posting, I wanted to talk about pricing your ebook. I know that many self-published authors are engaged in a ‘race to the bottom’ of sorts in an effort to eek out as much money from a book as possible. Someone once told me that I should always price my first book at 99 cents because “why would anyone spend more on a more expensive book when there are 99 cent ones out there?”
Good question. But I would like to say that there are not many other books out there just like my book. To be sure, there are a lot of quality 99 cent books out there. There are even many quality free books out there too. But for me, I know what my own book is worth, which is my first point.

1.) Price your book for what you think people will really pay for it. Everyone wants to get the most bang for their buck, and people are always looking for deals. But at the same time, don’t forget that you get what you pay for. If you purchase a 99 cent book, you’re expecting to read a 99 cent book. I don’t expect it to be great, just average. But if I see someone charging a bit more for their book – and it has good reviews with a good amount of traffic (I like to check the ranking numbers) then I’ll check it out.
2.) You will make more money by selling fewer higher cost books than you will selling more lower price books. Amazon, in particular, gives authors 70% of the profits if their book is priced between $2.99 and $9.99. So I make roughly $2.74 off each book I sell at the 70% rate. Contrast this to the paltry 30% offered to those who sell their book at 99 cents – a meager 30 cents (roughly) per book. So a person with a 99 cent book would have to sell nine books to make almost what I make in one book. One sell is a lot easier than nine.

3.) The flip side is also true. Nine cheap sells are a lot easier than one tough(er) sell. But this is where being smart ties in. Right now I have just one book. So I’ve priced it a bit high, with the idea that eventually I can lower the price. But how can you have your book, your work of blood-sweat-tears that took you a year to write actually have a helpful price while also keeping excited readers? Create a loss leader! Make a short story or two (ten thousand words or so) and price them at 99 cents or free. You don’t need an incredible amount of editing, just some basic formatting work and cover art. People will buy the cheap one, and be drawn into your story, then purchase your more expensive novel. By the way, Lindsey Buroker is an expert on this, check out her multiple 99 cent short stories that helped her get started in the world of self-publishing.

4.) Using a loss leader – This can be especially easy if you have a series. A loss leader is simply when you offer something at free or reduced prices to get someone interested in a product. You see this all the time when credit card companies give you a baseball hat or t-shirt when you sign up for a card. They lose a (small) amount of money on the shirt, but expect to gain more when you rack up big debts on your account.

So you set up your first novel as a cheaper or free introduction to your story, and hope the reader enjoys the story enough to purchase the next installments. Bingo, the ‘free’ book leads to two or three other purchases perhaps? Maybe more if you have multiple series.

What do you guys think about price setting? Is it better to start high then go low or simply stay low? Thoughts?

Ciao!

Can Nook ever match Kindle (i.e. are Nook Sales dead?)

I consider the war of the e-readers and whether Nook is capable of surviving it’s competitors.


This article partners with my previous posting on Amazon Select.

Once upon a time, there were no e-readers.

As a child and later teenager, Borders was always my favorite book store. I’ll admit that I cried a little when they went out of business. Granted the writing had been on the wall for a while. Borders was slow to enter the e-reader market, had over saturated the country with more stores than were practical (I mean, there were at least six in my county alone!) and simply failed to embrace the digital era as fast as it’s competitors. So I was forced to find another favorite book store to take the place that Borders had in my heart.

Enter Barnes and Noble. Although for years I had only traveled to their store to use gift cards (and a rewards program I had to pay for? Please, I was broke!), I found myself willingly visiting their stores more and more often. They were also the only book store in town. With B&N’s willingness to innovate and it’s prime position as largest US bookseller, one would think that victory was almost assured.

Wrong. Amazon’s Kindle has dominated the market, with Apple’s iPad tussling with the more limited Nook eReaders. This last year, B&N reported an 11% drop in it’s Nook revenue – both from the sale of tablets and the sales of books. Why is this happening? Costs, costs, and costs. With brick and mortar stores, B&N has a necessarily larger bottom line that it must maintain. Second, it’s tablets lag behind the Kindle Fire or Apple’s iPad in performance and flexibility. While Nook Color does has similar capabilities, and has received excellent reviews, it’s sister tablets have given B&N a hefty amount of trouble. Oh, and remember that price-fixing case that the Justice Department got involved in? Yea, good old B&N was involved in that too.

So how does this impact you, the ebook writer/reader?

Nook and Kindle
Nook and Kindle (Photo credit: evilgenius)

1.) As a writer, my sales on B&N website have been… well, flat. I mean, hovering around zero. I’ve sold maybe two dozen books there in about four months of selling. I’m sold that many on Amazon in a weekend. Is it worth it to keep open that possible purchasing stream? Or does it make more sense to go with KDP Select? (I’m just happy I’ve got a few good reviews on there, so at least my novel looks good!)

2.) As a reader, I was tempted to purchase a nook, especially because you can get books from the library as rentals on them (Pretty cool!), but in the end I got an iPad because I wanted more versatility. If I had known more about nook’s similarities, I would have considered it as well. But it just isn’t out there!

3.) As both, I wonder what would happen if Amazon came to truly dominate, rather than just overpower, it’s rivals? Would we see increased prices with dominance, coupled with reduced royalty rates? Would federal regulators step in to stop one company from controlling the majority of sales of the written word in the US?

Last, there is some good news for Nook. Microsoft just pumped a hefty chunk of change into it’s operation, for minority rights and the creation of a new operating system for nook tablets in college bookstores. Also, their expansion into the U.K. market will hopefully bring them some much needed new customers. One hopes that this will eventually expand to more European markets as well. Personally, I think B&N would be best served by trying to enter China BEFORE Amazon can get Kindle there. I mean, only a few hundred million people would be interested.

Will this be enough for Nook to hold off the heavyweights? Time will tell, but personally, I’m not betting on them yet.

Who wants their book reviewed?


Greetings all!

Most of you probably don’t know this, but if you go WAYYYYY back in Modern Papyrus’ history you’ll find a bunch of book reviews. Why? Because I love books! (Still do!) However, now that I’m a self published author, I’ve realized how hard it can be to get decent book reviews nowadays.

So I figured I’d start offering book reviews to self-published authors for free (for now – if I get a million people asking me to do it, maybe I’ll charge money – like a ‘buy me lunch or else’ type thing? Good idea? No, you say? Darn)

But there is a catch. I don’t have a million hours of free time. So at this time, it’s open to the FIRST FIVE PEOPLE who contact me about getting a review. To contact me, you simply click the contact button at the top of the page. First five by time stamp win! Everyone else… maybe next time!

What do I get? Content for the blog, and readers that come to me to see the reviews of your book because you’ve done your homework and promoted your book, right? Oh you didn’t? Click here to start that now while I read your book!

What do you get? I thought this would be obvious. An honest review that I’ll willingly post on Amazon and Nook and Goodreads should you request it. Plus, maybe this will lead to collaboration and author interviews and all that fun jazz.

I’m open to any fiction that’s not romantic or erotica. If your book has romance in it but is more action or adventure or whatnot, then sure, I’ll check it out. I’ll make the final call, but I’m pretty open to most other book types.

Ready… Set… Go!

UPDATE: As of July 15th, I have two books lined up. I’d love to get five done. So keep emailing me people!

Interview with Author Hazel B. West

Interview with Hazel West, Author of Freedom Come All Ye & Ballad of the Highwayman


Hi all,

A while ago, I was fortunate enough to be interviewed on Hazel’s blog, Character Purgatory (Very draconian name, but very non-draconian content!) about Brass Legionnaire. I figured I’d return the favor so all of you can get a chance to learn about her novels. (P.S. Full Disclosure – I did receive a review on amazon by Ms. West, but it was before she inquired about an author interview – No Funny Business here!)

You can read my interview with Hazel here.

Picture of William Wallace

First off, can you share with readers a brief blurb about your novels?

Well, first of all there’s “Freedom Come All Ye” which is a YA novel about William Wallace as a teenager. He’s sick of having to be in school while his father and older brother are fighting the English oppressors and one day he gets into a fight with the sheriff’s son and ends up accidentally killing him–thus having to run. He goes to stay with his uncle who’s the sheriff of English occupied Lanark and while Wallace is there trying to hide out he ends up having a brush with the general of the English garrison, Jack Moore–and he finds out that Jack Moore had killed his father. So he decides to start a resistance as he father had, and with a few friends, John Graham, Stephen Ireland, Kerlie, and eventually Marion Braidfoot, he hides out in the woods near the town, Robin Hood style, waiting for the chance to exact revenge on Jack Moore. I was inspired to write this book because there is so little known about Wallace’s childhood, and so I took the few stories we do know from reading accounts like Blind Harry’s epic (which may or may not be very true, we don’t have anything else to go on) and piecing them together with an added villain into what I thought Wallace’s teenage years might have been like.

My second novel is “Ballad of the Highwayman” jumping from medieval Scotland to Stuart England. In this book, my hero is Kilroy Allen; it opens with him at age ten, going to visit his father in prison on the eve of his execution. The book it set right after the English Civil War when Charles I lost his head, and the Royalists–which Kilroy’s father was–thought that his father had betrayed them to the opposition so they were going to kill him. He had actually been set up by an unknown source and he told Kilroy to find out who it was and clear his name one day. Fifteen years later, Kilroy is a highwayman by night (The Emerald Sword) and a trader named Jeremy Gelnnon by day. He can’t use his real name because everyone knows of Allen the “Traitor” and he has to have a cover so he can keep searching for his father’s betrayer. And also, of course, so he can keep an eye on his childhood sweetheart, Sylvia Davies. This book is pretty much a classic adventure/swashbuckler novel with sword duels, wrestling, robbing (the rich of course), a little detective work, and a bit of romance. Oh yes, and humor as well.

And right now, I’m working on another novel set during the Scottish Wars for Independence (Wallace’s time) Featuring Reeve, an English knight who is captured by the Scots on the field of battle. You can read an excerpt here if you’re interested.

How did you come up with the ideas for your novels?

“Freedom Come All Ye” was simply curiosity. I wanted to know what Wallace might have been like as a teenager and so I wrote about it!

“Ballad of the Highwayman” was, for the most part, inspired by Alfred Noyes’ poem “The Highwayman”. Ever since I read that for the first time, I cound never get the visionary out of my head, and I knew that someday I would have to write a highwayman novel. Besides that, it was a product of reading “Three Musketeers” and Louis L’Amour’s “The Lonesome Gods” in succession. And because I think there need to be more swashbucklers written by modern day authors. Everyone loves the genre (Come on, we know you do) but it’s kind of gotten lost.

 

Why did you choose to focus your novels on William Wallace?

 

 

Wallace is one of my favorite historical figures. He’s one of those people who stays in your head and you have to think: This can’t possibly be a true story! I didn’t know a thing about Scotland before I was fourteen and I read Jane Yolen’s novel “Prince Across the Water” about the Jacobite Rebellion. I loved it so much that I decided to do research on the time period since I had never read about it in school (and I was already a total history buff at that time). Reading about Bonnie Prince Charlie, I decided to look at more Scottish history and found the story of William Wallace, and since that day, after I read about all the things he did, and how he met his end, I’ve not been able to get him out of my head. So then I started reading everyone else’s novels and eventually decided I wanted to write my own. Wallace is one of those people who everyone can relate to because he fought for freedom and I hope that by writing more novels he will be carried on through the generations to inspire more young people.

How do you write? Do you set a schedule or is it a more free-form thing?

 

Truthfully, every book I write comes differently and my “favorite time to write” changes all the time. Right now, I write from about 11 pm to 2 am or later if I’m really working on something. I do not write during the day much at all anymore because it’s too noisy, and I think better at night. During the day, I go over previously written chapters, do research, fix things that need fixing and all that. Normally, I will save the chapters I write each week and edit them over the weekend since I usually don’t write saturday and sunday. But that’s the book I’m working on now, next one might change.

What do you do in your non-writing time?

Sleep. No, I like to read, play guitar or whatever else, practice upcoming battle scenes with various weaponry in the back yard. Occasionally I like to draw and paint or do some other kind of artsy stuff, and obviously, drink coffee because otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to write–yes, I firmly believe that 😉

Who is your favorite character?

Definitely a hard question. I love them all, but yet there are those who are just so fun to write about. I think that I would have to say it’s Roster Scarcliff from “Ballad of the Highwayman”. He’s Kilroy’s rival, and they fight all the time, but they end up having to work together and eventually become best buds. Roster might seem a little annoying and cocky on the outside, but he’s really the sweetest guy ever, and he gives almost all of his “profits” to the poor 😉

What are some of your favorite books and authors? Who inspires you?

My favorite authors are Rosemary Sutcliff, Alexandre Dumas, and Louis L’Amour–Okay, I have lots more favorite authors, but these are the ones who seem to inspire me mostly. Rosemary Sutcliff has gone and started me thinking about what may be my next book… but we’ll see about that when we get there 😉

 

And lastly, what is the best advice you would give to a new author or writer?

 

Don’t ever stop writing, no matter what anyone says, there’s no way you’ll get better unless you keep it up. Writing is seasoned with time, it has to age, and not everyone’s first story is going to be a New York Times’ Best Seller. The best thing to do is listen to criticism, and think about it even if you don’t follow all of it (because it is still your book, not theirs). And most of all, make sure that YOU are happy with it. Half the battle is making sure you yourself can approve of your story.

Thanks so much for having me, Daniel!

Thanks for taking the time to answer the questions!

Here are the links to Hazel West’s Novels.

Freedom Come All Ye    

Ballad of the Highwayman

As a sidebar, I really enjoyed this experience of having a guest post/author interview. If you’re looking to be interviewed/get an interview from me about Brass Legionnaire or the Self-Publishing process, drop me a message through the contact page above.

Ciao!

How to respond to Reviews (positive or negative)

Brass Legionnaire gets a Five-Star Review, and how to deal with Reviews as an Author.


I’ve heard it been said before that self-published authors are a picky lot.

Who, us?

Actually, I agree. One of the downsides of being a writer/publisher is that you become so connected with your book that is is like a child. You are the one who put in love and effort and pushed it to grow and mature. You also scrapped up the funds to get it edited, revised, and probably some nice cover art or formatting along the way.

And heaven forbid someone dis your child. It’s like that annoying parent at the soccer game who is yelling at your kid because they just aren’t quite as fast as theirs, as good as theirs, or as big as theirs. Or perhaps, they’re making snide comments because your child is better, and they are jealous.

Either way – child or book – we get insulted. If you have to hop through a million hoops with a publisher – editor, cover art, everything else more outside of your direct control – You might not feel as protective about your novel.

Today, I’m exceptionally excited because Brass Legionnaire got a five star review from a reader. Now what should I do as the writer? I could go several routes. Since it is a positive review, I’m probably more likely to respond in a positive way. The review also included some constructive feedback – something the reader would like to see more of in Copper Centurion (ie book two).

I’m not going to respond on the posting because that’s not my place to respond. Could I? Yes, but I won’t (not because I don’t want to) but because I feel as though I don’t need to be such a micromanager.

But I’ll tell you what I will do. I’ll listen to the constructive criticism. The reviewer thought I should have more camaraderie between the troops. And you know what? I should!

Any author should be able to look at reviews with an objective eye. The key thing is to take a deep breathe and back off. Not everyone will find your novel their piece of cake. That’s a fact of life. There will always be someone out there who will be spiteful or angry or mad over small things. You can’t control that. What you can do is avoid petty fights and maintain your reputation as an author. If you become known as an author who takes feedback and criticism (with a grain of salt) with grace and a willingness to at least THINK about it, then you become someone who people want to work with or talk with or learn from.

So long story short, keep the reviewer’s wishes in mind, but the story is yours in the end. If they point our typos or errors or problems with formatting or editing, get it fixed! If its a story content thing, make sure you have beta readers.

No one likes a prickly porcupine, so don’t be one!

Learning from My Self-Publishing Experience in Five Steps: Part 2

Learn from my Self-Publishing Experience: Part 2 – Advance Reader Copies and Promotional Opportunities!


Hi all, and welcome to part two of my self-publishing experience post.

It’s a busy time of year here in the mid-Atlantic. School is ending and all the stuff that goes with that is being thrown together in a hurry! I’m moving rooms, moving houses, and have to balance all that with grad school and writing. Whew! When do I find time to sleep?

Here’s a quick review of the earlier post –

1.) Create an online presence in advance, not when just publishing.

2.) Get some beta readers and have your book read before an editor looks at it.

3.) Make a publishing plan and stick to it. Do your work in advance so you won’t have to do it on the fly.

Here are steps Four and Five.

Cover of "Kindle Wireless Reading Device,...

4.Send out Advance Book Copies – So you’ve published your novel, but no one knows it exists. And no one is willing to risk their money on an unrated novel. It’s easy to spot friend and family reviews, so what’s an author to do? The answer: Advanced Reader Copies. Grab some people you know, but aren’t your closest friends, and ask them to take a look at your book. If you’ve already done step 1 and 2, then you probably have some people who you trust to review your book fairly and honestly. Notice I didn’t say POSITIVE. A book with a ton of five-star reviews the second it comes out may arouse suspicion, and can garner angry reviews from readers who buy it based on those reviews but find it horrible. On the other hand, a book with a mixture will most likely elicit people’s interest and will garner more honest feedback. People don’t like buying an unknown quantity, and especially don’t like getting duped. But with a few reviews, more people will be willing to try it, even if it’s a three and a half star book.

Now you can purchase book reviews through Kirkus and other websites, but it’s far cheaper and more beneficial to you to utilize your readers. A handy thing to toss in at the end of your book is a nice ‘If you liked the book, please review it online” comment. It can’t hurt, and certainly can help, even if you just get one person to review out of 10, if you sell 100 books that could be ten positive reviews! That’s a nice amount to show up on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Also, don’t forget that you can take snippets of reviews and put them on your blurb or other places, like your website – especially if they are from a more recognized reviewer. Just be sure to credit where the review came from.

5. Promote, but don’t be obnoxious – So you’ve got your twitter and Facebook and goodreads account and everything is going well. Are you posting a million messages a day about your book? Hopefully not! That’s annoying and is called spam. But I know none of you would ever spam… right? It can drive your followers away if all they get are messages about your book. Be different! Write about your life and what’s happening. Limit yourself a few posts a day. Be sure to use your hashtags effectively too.

I’m not saying to never talk about your book, I’m just saying use common sense. It shouldn’t be the only thing happening in your life! Here’s a list of some other ways to get people to try your novel.

1.) Write a short story or two about your world and make it free (or $0.99) on all marketplaces. People can decide if they like your writing style. For example, I’m in the midst of something called ‘The Traitor’ about the non-assassination of Julius Caesar. Maybe it will bring in some readers. Maybe it will reward twitter and Facebook and blog followers.

2.) Use your online presence to team up with other indie authors for cross-promotion and similar things. Especially around the holidays (and right after!) deals and networking can really pay off!

Anyways, I hoped that helped. What do you all think about what I learned? I’m sure I missed a ton of other things, which I’m sure I’ll have to write about in the future!

Learning from My Self Publishing Experience in Five Steps

How to learn from my Self Publishing Experience in just five steps. (part one!)


Colonial artillery crew during the American Re...

‘If at first you don’t succeed, find a bigger gun.’

Hello everyone! For this weekend’s post, I’d like to talk a bit about what I learned about self-publishing in the last few days, weeks, and months. I’ve broken it down into five steps to spare you hours of reading (Just kidding!). So, here goes.

1.) You are not alone – Writing can be a very solitary pursuit. After all, it used to be done in the quiet comfort of a nice, book-lined study by a gentleman using a quill, some parchment, and a boatload of ink and blotting sand. I’m not sure if the current upgrade to person & computer is better or worse.

The point is, you only write in isolation if that is what you choose. There are a myriad of resources out there for aspiring writers. From Goodreads groups to writing circles, to author blogs (like this one!) self-publishing websites, and so on and so forth. The biggest key is you can’t be embarrassed by the fact that you are writing. We were all novices at some point (Or still are).

2. Beta Read before you Copy Edit – Yes, you need to have your friends, co-workers, or random volunteers read your novel before you send it to the copy editor. This is one thing I did not do, and I kick myself in the head for it all the time. Fortunately, I had an awesome editor who was able to catch those mistakes – even very basic ones – a la ‘whose name goes where after a title?’.

If you wait until after the copy edit, then you face not only reshuffling parts of your story, but also then having to copy edit the parts you moved around and rewrote. Lesson Learned – Find some friends, order pizza (or promise them a published copy of the book!) and have them read it. Give them nice big pens and have them mention everything – something doesn’t sound right, wasn’t so and so injured last chapter? How is he now running? Even if you choose not to follow or fix what they discover, at least you know, and can make the fixes later if you chose so.

3. Plan Ahead – Before you publish, have a plan. Where are you going to publish? Just on Amazon? Will you go KDP Select? Or will you spread out and use Smashwords and Barnes & Noble? Do you want a paperback copy? Will you hire out the formatting? The cover art? Or will you go it alone? All are valid options that have their own pros and cons. Me, I value my time and sanity, so I’m willing to shell out money to have someone do that complicated part for me.

Also, something else that may also help – setting up an independent checking/savings account for your book profits/payments. It keeps things separate from your other money, and since you’ll need a direct deposit account available for most sites, I believe it’s a good investment.

EDIT: PART TWO IS POSTED HERE! READ ON FELLOW ROMANS!

Also, be sure to check out the winners’ of the Book Blog Signed Paperback Giveaway. I’ve already had one person contact me about the novel. If the other two winners don’t respond by the end of the week, I’ll have to draw from the pot again!

Brass Legionnaire out Today!

Brass Legionnaire is fully published. Check out amazon, barnes & noble, and smashwords for more details.
Only one day left on the free signed copy giveaway!


Happy Brass Legionnaire Day!

As of this moment, folks, the first novel of the Steam Empire Chronicles, Brass Legionnaire, is published in all formats and available for purchase!

I’ve made a new page at the top of the blog that features all of the easiest ways to purchase my novel. You can also use the links in this post to purchase them as well.

What about signed copies, you say? Well, I’ve got TWO give-aways running. Each one has three signed paperback copies of the novel available for you to win! You can even enter both. (If you win both, I reserve the right to only send you one signed copy!)

So either comment on this post of mine from earlier,

Or check out my Goodreads Giveaway and sign up there as well!

You have just ONE day left to enter and win for both contests!

Here are the links below to each book.

Nook

Brass Legionnaire (Print edition and Kindle Edition)

Smashwords (all other formats)

If you aren’t sure about purchasing yet, download the first chapter for free here, or you can sample the first 20% of the book (For more Roman-Steampunky goodness) for free also at the Smashwords link above!

Thanks again for all of my readers and fans out there. The journey started because of me, but it really finished because of your encouragement and positive attitudes. I love you all, and I’ll continue to blog about my adventures in life and self publishing. And yes, there will be more Brass Legionnaire novels to come. Copper Centurion (Due out sometime next Spring) will be even longer and more chock full of airship flying roman legionnaires.

Thanks again! Be sure to subscribe to the blog, Like me on Facebook or follow me on twitter! I keep it pretty interesting, and don’t spam you with a million for sale ads. Hurray!

– Daniel

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