Need help! A reviewer said I didn’t clarify enough between what a vision statement is & what goals are.
Let me know if you can take a look & send me a suggestion. It’s FREE on all platforms and under 40 pgs. Thanks!
The Morning I Didn’t Wake Up
Left Center or Right? Mix up fonts or layout?
I couldn’t sleep last night, so I wrote another horror short story. Let me know if you’d like to beta-read it.
It’s short, only 2700 words. No gore, just surreal / psychological, as all of mine are.
What are you up to?
Or is this better?
William Johnson Crawford
ARRRGGHHH. I’m half-way through writing book 4 in this series, which is finally at the 1774 trial of William Johnson Crawford for horse thieving.
I just heard back from the Connecticut Law Library. THEY HAVE LOST ALL THE COURT RECORDS from this time period. They can’t find them.
What in the world?? Conspiracy!!!
What are you up to?
Here is book 1 Irish Lass which is FREE. I know the two reviews say Irish Lass is book 2. That was a mistake Amazon made which is now fixed. It’s always something..
Charles Smith Author
Left Center or Right? I’m working on the latest book in a series by Charles Smith, so the overall look-feel should stay consistent.
This book is focused on military / recovering addicts / PTSD so I’m avoiding “froofy” butterflies.
Thoughts? Suggestions?
Arthur Conan Doyle Ghost Stories
It’s live! It’s live! Thank you all so much for your help with the cover and with the inside charcoal illustrations.
His stories are really intriguing.
What are you up to today?
Monday Workshops
It’s Monday Monday Monday! I’ve got supportive, inspirational seminars running at 3, 5, and 7 EST.
Let me know if you’re interested in one!
Share the news!
What are you up to this fine Monday?
Irish Lass – Newgate Prison Copper Mine
IMPORTANT UPDATE! Irish Lass is book 1 of my 1773 series. Amazon had mistakenly put the insides of BOOK 2 in this book. I just got them to fix it.
If you have Irish Lass please check that it shows you book 1’s story. Let me know if you need help!
It’s always something.
What are you up to today?
Here’s the link for Irish Lass. I’d love to hear your thoughts on it!
Monday Time Management and Writing Workshops
It’s Monday! Time to get your week organized for relaxing energy and steady momentum!
Come join me on Zoom at 3pm for time management and vision planning.
At 5pm I’m on OutSchool helping teens reach their dreams.
And at 7pm it’s my main writing workshop on Zoom.
Ask with any questions! What are you guys up to today?
My Mother’s Watchful Gaze
Free for limited time! Grab your copy!
My Mother’s Watchful Gaze – Sometimes life takes a twisting turn.
A Psychological Horror Suspense Short Story
Be Efficient in Marketing
OK I think this will be my last update on my horror project, as everything is chugging along very smoothly. Time for a recap. This system can be used for any book in any genre – it just so happens I’m doing it with my horror stories to ramp up for Halloween.
My HorrorRTG account hit 400 followers on Thursday, three days ahead of schedule. So that increase is picking up steam. I’ve explained in past posts the technique for building that up. It’s quick, easy, and fairly brainless. It can be done for any account. It’s how I built my other accounts up to 5,000 to 10,000 followers fairly quickly. That then benefits every promotion I post.
I have 19 horror short stories. I recorded short videos with ‘about this story’ for each one. Many readers love to hear an author’s reasons for writing something. It’s a way of having yourself all over YouTube in a way which feels “informative” to readers rather than “marketing”. But of course it is marketing. You can record these videos with your cellphone. The more ‘real’ it feels, the more your readers connect with you. If you just have one book, do videos about different aspects – how you designed the characters, how you brought the environment to life, etc.
With the videos complete, then I edited every single story and reloaded them all on Amazon fresh. I made sure the end of each one linked to my YouTube channel and also to every other book. That way a person who reads a book is now pushed to read the other stories in a direct way. If they have questions, they are directed to get all the answers they crave on my YouTube channel. That should help to raise more 5-star reviews and also boost sales.
Book 1 is free, to act as a suction hose to draw in as many readers as possible. Then books 2-19 are all in Kindle Unlimited, meaning they’re free to all KU members. It also means I can do 5 days of free price every 3 months. I have them lined up so book 2 is free Sep 1-3, book 3 is free Sep 4-6, and so on. That gives me two months solid of posts I can make saying “Free special! Grab it now!” When you do posts about ‘get this free book’ it feels like a cool offer rather than a marketing push. Readers generally react positively to those messages.
I have a text document full of my standard promotions for each book. So when I do my daily posts, I just cut and paste one onto Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, WattPad, and my blog. I should do Instagram too but it’s more of a pain. It takes maybe 2 minutes total because I’m just doing cut-paste to five pages that I have bookmarked. It’s quick and easy. I’ll note you should make minor tweaks to them each time so it isn’t the exact 100% same message, so you avoid spam filters. Every post should have an image on all platforms. They should have a direct link to Amazon on all platforms. On Twitter, they should have 3-4 popular hashtags.
Also make sure you like and share (when possible) other authors’ posts in your genre. The more you support other authors, the more likely they are to support you.
Ask with any questions, and good luck!