This Blog Has Moved!

In an effort to consolidate my Internet presence, I am moving this blog to my website, http://www.jonfesmire.com/. I have my site hosted by Wix, and they have a lot of terrific tools, including their own blog system.

I will continue writing helpful posts, such as the first new one, "Writers, Mix It Up!"

Thanks to everyone who followed here, and I hope to "see" you there.

10 Steps For A Free Book Promotion

Disclaimer

I am no book marketing expert, though I have picked up a few things over the years. Just recently, I've decided to really market my books in earnest and to not let anything discourage me. These basic techniques are what I've learned recently, and I hope they will make the beginning stages of marketing a little easier for others.

The Steps

Currently, I'm working on my latest novel, Bodacious Creed: A Steampunk Zombie Western. I ran a successful Kickstarter to not only get the book's publication funded, but to get readers involved, and now I'm about half-way through the first draft.

I decided it made sense to also re-publish my first two novels, Tamshi's Imp and Children of Rhatlan. These are the steps I've taken so far, and are what I suggest for other writers.

1. Create a cover that looks great as a thumbnail. I worked at B.Dalton Bookseller in the early 1990s. Back then, most genre covers were elaborate paintings, especially in the fantasy genre. That worked fine when people had to look at full-sized covers in book stores, but today, when we see a book cover for the first time, it's usually as a thumbnail on Amazon. Create a more simple cover that is striking as a thumbnail and can entice potential readers to click. Here are the covers for mine. As you can see, not only are a they relatively simple, they're also artistic, and they are also similar in style. I did this to create a brand image. The cover of Bodacious Creed will be in the same general style.

2. Publish the print versions of your books on CreateSpace. I used to recommend Lulu, but then CreateSpace came along, and boy are there advantages to publishing there. First is what you can offer them for while still making a nice royalty. When I had these books published through Lulu, I had to sell them for $15.95 apiece to make a royalty on them. I was able to price the CreateSpace editions at $9.95 each, $6.00 less than the Lulu editions! (I also discontinued the Lulu editions for this very reason.) Also, my price-per-copy as author is about 1/3 what I had to pay when ordering copies through Lulu! In addition, since CreateSpace is connected to Amazon, with a few clicks, you can have your books converted to Kindle format. Finally, with Kindle MatchBook, if someone buys a print edition of your book, you can allow them to get the Kindle edition for a discount. (This option for Kindle, and other Kindle suggestions following, are possible through the Kindle Direct Publishing site.)

3. Enroll your book in Kindle Unlimited. This allows Kindle Unlimited members on Amazon to read your book for free. However, if a person reads more than 10%, you receive a royalty, anyway!

4. Join lots of Facebook book share groups. Visit the group List of ALL Book and Author Promotion Groups. Look at the list, which is pinned to the top of the page. Right click on each group title that corresponds at all with the type of book you're selling, and open it in a new tab. Then, go through and join all these groups!

5. Run a free five-day kindle promotion. On the Kindle Direct Publishing site, you can choose from two kinds of promotions. One is the Kindle Countdown Deal, which allows you to start by by putting your Kindle book on sale for one low price, and slowly raising that price daily until it hits the actual retail price. The other is the Free Book Promotion, which you can run for up to five days per book. Shortly after your Kindle book comes out, this is a fantastic way to get the word out and to gain a lot more readers! When looking at your list of published books on KDP, clkck on the "Promote and Advertise" link for the book you want to make free, then select the Free Book Promotion. You can start the promotion at any time starting from the next day.

6. Create bit links for Kindle edition on Bit.Ly. This accomplishes two things: It will give you a shorter URL to paste along with your promo (outlined in step 7), and at any time during or after your promo you can go to Bit.Ly to see how many clicks your links have received. Oh, for this last part, you need to sign up for a free Bit.Ly account.

7. Share your free promotion on facebook and twitter. Remember all those groups you joined in step 4? If you've given yourself a day or two in step 5, you should be a member of most of those groups by now. Write a short promo for your book (or books... I promoted two at once), say that it will be free from its start date until its end date, include the link to the Kindle edition, and post it! I recommend posting between noon and 7:00 pm Pacific Time, as this can take quite awhile, and those hours are when more people will be online to see the posts come through. Here's what I wrote for my first day of promotion: 

From today through Sunday, get "Children of Rhatlan" and "Tamshi's Imp" FREE for Kindle!

http://amzn.to/19iMRdI
http://amzn.to/18Vth7y

"Tamshi's Imp is ... an adventure not to be missed!" -- James Rollins

"There were enough twists and turns to keep me riveted until the last lines. 'Children of Rhatlan' is a winner!" -- Jonathan Lambert

Rather than using the automatic image link Facebook pasted in going to just one of my books, I deleted that image and uploaded a picture of each book cover instead. However, if you are advertising just one book, there's no need to make such a change.

Clearly, your tweet will be much shorter. Craft it well!

8. Post every day of the promotion. However, don't post to every single page every day. Many of the groups are big, larger than 1,000 members. If you return to such a group the next day and you don't see your advertisement by scrolling down, you're probably safe to post an update. In fact, some groups say that it's Okay to post once per day, but not more. If you see your post on the first page as you school though, you probably shouldn't post the link again until a day or two later.

9. Check your giveaway. On your Kindle Direct Publishing reports page, you will see a chart of your sales. It includes verified sales, Kindle Unlimited downloads, and free copies. If all goes well, you should start seeing some pretty good numbers! In my five days of promoting Children of Rhatlan and Tamshi's Imp, folks downloaded 665 copies.

10. Brag, but not in an arrogant way. The day after your promotion ends, make one more post to all the large, 1,000 member and up groups. This is your chance to do a bit of bragging and to hopefully get some downloads and sales started! In this post, say how many free copies Kindle readers got. Then say that the book is free, and will always be free, on Kindle Unlimited. Point out the regular Kindle price. Also point out the price of the print edition, and the lower price of the Kindle edition for anyone who buys the print book.

Additional Suggestions

1. Have a Facebook author page and share it. Some of the group pages are not for advertising books, but are for sharing your Facebook pages. So, have a Facebook author page! In these groups, post the link to your Facebook author page. It will post not only your link, but your page banner, and will allow people to like the page directly from the post. Then, go through the list of other people's pages and like those that interest you. (I do not recommend simply liking someone's page because they liked yours. This system should work by bringing attention to pages you may not be aware of, not to force you to like something you wouldn't otherwise. Doing so can also mess up your Facebook feed.) My two pages, Jonathan Fesmire: Author, and Bodacious Creed: A Steampunk Zombie Western, each gained over 100 new fans over the weekend.

2. Create an about post for your Facebook author page. This is easy enough. Create a basic post that says what your author page is about. Here, you can have a link to your website and blog, and say something about yourself and your writing. Pin this to the top of the page so that people can always read this first.

3. Join the discussion. This kind of promotion takes a lot of time! Some recommend using a bot to post these, and I believe that can be done ethically. I will certainly be looking into it after these five busy days! However, once you're promotion has run, start engaging with writers and readers on these groups. People who know you are more likely to buy your books, or so I'm told, and you can make new friends and connections.

And Now...

That's what I have for now! As I learn more about book marketing and try other things, I will try to keep readers informed of what works and what does not.

Meanwhile, I highly recommend the page 71 Ways to Promote and Market Your Book by Kimberly Grabas. There are many great suggestions here I have yet to try, but I look forward to going through them.

Also, if you agree with or disagree with any of my marketing strategies, please let me know why!

So. Much. Promotion.

Helping Fellow Artists

When I started working on my master's thesis for Academy of Art University, I decided to create a blog documenting every stage. That blog still exists as Steampunk in Art and Writing. In it, I chronicled the progress of Bodacious Creed from idea to finished 3D modeling and texturing demo reel. Then, a year and a half later, I decided it was time to turn the story behind the reel into a novel.

But you can read all about that in the blog, if you like.

Here's the point that I'm getting to in a round-a-bout way. As I worked on the models and the textures, I hoped that my fellow MFA candidates and others would read the blog and get some ideas for their own work. No, I don't mean I wanted all of them to create steampunk zombie western theses. I wanted them to learn from the modeling and texturing techniques I came up with. For example, I figured out a great way to easily create symmetrical blend shapes in Zbrush and to transfer them back to Maya. (Blend shapes allow animators to do things like make a character's lips move to speech.)

Helping Now

How does this relate to the title of this blog, So. Much. Promotion.? I discovered that I really enjoyed sharing my techniques with other artists, just as I enjoy learning from tutorial videos and blogs. As a writer, I want to help other writers have some success, too. I'm a long way from being a marketing expert, but I'm learning, and when I learn something that works, I want to share it.

Wiped Out

Over the last five days, I ran a free promotion of my first two novels, which I recently re-published, Children of Rhatlan and Tamshi's Imp. I made the Kindle editions free and advertised like crazy on Facebook. I also had some intensive writing homework to finish for a class. So, this morning, after seeing my son off to school on the bus, I slept for a good five more hours.

So. Much. Promotion. As I said.

Physical exercise can wipe you out, and so can constant strategy and brain work. The brain uses a lot of energy, after all.

But, my promotion was a roaring success! In total, new fans (I say optimistically) ordered 655 Kindle copies of my books! They downloaded 427 copies of Children of Rhatlan and 238 of Tamshi's Imp! Surprisingly, it seems that most of those didn't come from Facebook, though about 200 did.

Now, I know this blog entry will not seem complete, because I've left out the tips! This is the background blog. In the next entry, I'll explain what I did to promote them.

Fantasy Freebies!

I just announced this on Facebook today and want to make sure my website visitors and blog readers know about this promotion.

From today, Wed, March 15, through Sunday, Mar 28, you  the Kindle versions of 'Children of Rhatlan" and "Tamshi's Imp" are FREE!

You no longer have a reason not to get them!

Just click a cover.

Downloading helps sales stats, so get yourself two great free books and help a writer out!

I also encourage readers to post book reviews. I truly appreciate them!

The Gods and The Imp Are Back

The Gods and The Imp Are Back!

I'm very happy to say that I recently re-published my first two fantasy novels, Children of Rhatlan and Tamshi's Imp. They have new covers, I have corrected the typos (what I could find) that I'd previously left in Tamshi's Imp, and each book now contains a reading group discussion section.

I did the covers in a new style that I plan to use for my future books, including Bodacious Creed. Curious? Here's how they look.

I received my proof copies yesterday and they look fantastic inside and out. I'm really proud of these new editions. You can get them on CreateSpace (just click on the book images) for just $9.95 each. Keep in mind that the previous versions, published on Lulu, had a significantly higher price for me, so I had to sell them for $15.95. I can't tell you how good it feels to be able to offer these for just under $10 each!

On My Blogs and Social Media

For awhile, I have been sharing information about all my art and writing in my Steampunk in Art and Writing blog, which is also the Bodacious Creed blog. I've been posting news to the Bodacious Creed fan page, too. However, my non-Creed work really needs its own media, and the Creed pages should be dedicated to just Creed and steampunk, westerns, and zombies. (Bodacious Creed blends all three. Haven't heard of it yet? Check out the links!)

To follow everything, head over to the Bodacious Creed fan page and my Jonathan Fesmire: Author pages on Facebook and like both. Also, bookmark the Bodacious Creed and Jonathan Fesmire websites.

Thanks for visiting!

10 Movies the World Would be Better Without

This is a list I wrote for my day job, before I realized I had read the subject incorrectly! I wrote the correct article for them today. Since they won't be using this article, I decided to share it here for everyone to enjoy.

Water World

The premise to "Water World" isn't a bad one, and was somewhat visionary for 1986. Global warming has raised the level of water on Earth so high that mankind must live on a planet with little land. "Water World" left many viewers wishing they had seen something else instead.

"Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

It's a good thing that Star Wars fans already loved the original trilogy. Otherwise, "The Phantom Menace" might have killed the film franchise entirely. There's a reason fans came up with a new way to watch the films, called "Machete Order." You watch episodes IV and V, then II and III as a flashback, the VI for the conclusion, skipping I completely. Nothing that happens in Episode I is really important to the rest of the story. The addition of midichlorians, senate hearings, and worst of all, Jar Jar Binks, makes this film a must-skip.

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace

"Superman III" had already jumped the shark by having Richard Prior co-star, and by using audio effects from Atari Pac Man. Yet somehow, "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace" was even worse. The effects were even worse than in the previous film. Since Superman's goal was to rid the Earth of nuclear weapons, of course he has to face an idiotic super villain called Nuclear Man. If this film hadn't been made, the Superman franchise might have come back sooner, and stronger.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

The "Indiana Jones" franchise definitely deserved a fourth movie. Unfortunately, it got "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." If only Spielberg realized that aliens do not belong in an Indiana Jones film. Bringing Indy and Marion together was great. The rest of the film, not so much.

Batman and Robin

Audiences loved the first two Batman movies by Tim Burton. Sure, they were campy, but also edgy, and the danger felt real. The third film certainly went down hill, but it was the final installment, "Batman and Robin," that killed the Batman franchise until rebooted by Christopher Nolan. Bad casting, worse puns, and a camp factor that was way overblown make this a film that should never have seen the silver screen.

Dude, Where's My Car?

Ashton Kutcher can act. Seann William Scott can act. One has to wonder if that's what they were doing in "Dude, Where's My Car?" As Cheech and Chong showed years ago, stoner comedies can be hilarious. The main characters wake up from a drug-fueled sleep only to not know where the car is. "The Hangover," years later, would handle the premise much better.

The Hangover III

"The Hangover" was a funny, over-the-top movie about friends who wake up the night after a bachelor party with no memory of the day before, and have to trace back their steps to find out what happened. The exact same premise was repeated in "The Hangover II" to shaky results. "The Hangover III" was just one too many. Here's a hint to the movie makers: Decapitated giraffes aren't funny.

Highlander 2: The Quickening

It's anyone's guess how tis abomination of a sequel has a 3.9 out of 10 rating on IMDB. Rotten Tomatoes doesn't even have a proper page for this disaster. To put it bluntly, "Highlander 2: The Quickening" crapped on all the fans who loved "Highlander." It contradicted critical background from the first movie, turning the immortals born of humans on Earth into aliens who had come to Earth to do battle over centuries. The humor doesn't just fall flat. It's painfully stupid. Shame on Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery for reprising their roles in this one.

Freddy Got Fingered

Tom Green is a jackass, and not in the sort-of-funny "Jackass" movie way. The humor, perhaps meant to be slapstick, is just weird and creepy. Swinging a newborn around by its umbilical cord and hitting the legs of a girl in a wheelchair with a club are disturbing, not funny. Green should have spared the world and never made this film

Battlefield Earth

"Battlefield Earth" is based on the hack writing of L. Ron Hubbard, who couldn't make it as a science fiction writer until he made up his own religion, Scientology. An adherent of that out-of-this-world belief system, John Travolta was determined to turn Hubbard's work into a film. Bad filming, bad acting, and a terrible story made this film what it deserved to be: a flop. At least the world was never subjected to a sequel.

Why I Love Costco

Costco is a terrific warehouse store.  Membership is easy to afford, prices are low, and it has technical support on, and extended warranties for, all the electronics they sell.  One time, because of an issue with the Costco tire shop, the company gave me a free replacement tire and comped my membership for one year.

I have a pretty nice looking frame for my glasses.  One of the arms came off, though, just fell right off, so I took them to Costco to see if the optical department could screw it back on.

Since part had actually broken, the young woman in that department found a matching set of arms that fit, replaced the old ones, and made sure the glasses would sit evenly on my face.  The bonus: These are Ray Ban arms.  So, now, it looks like I have these really expensive frames.