ABOUT ME:
Thanks for inviting me to be a guest on your blog. It’s great to be here!
Here’s a little bit about me: I adore books, anything and everything about them. I love to learn so you’ll often find me with a text book or the Oxford English dictionary in hand. Most of all, though, I love to read romance novels. My all-time favorite? ‘The Wolf and the Dove’ a historical romance by Kathleen Woodiwiss. Lots of conflict, a consummate alpha male and a feisty heroine who keeps him on his toes. What more could a romance lover want? My love of reading naturally led to my writing my own collection of spicy romance novels: ‘Hot Summer’, ‘Hot Chocolat’, and ‘Some Like It Hot’. I’ve also written a historical novel, ‘Coffee, Cream and Curry’ which won an award in a national writing competition. Finally, I’m mommy to a nine year old son, a hamster and a budgie. There’s lots more to tell but I won’t do it all here. For additional information just visit my website, www.judypowell.com.
WHAT I WISH I’D KNOWN A YEAR AGO:
The number one thing I wish I’d known a year ago is what a blessing e-books and self-publishing really are. I had heard about the Amazon kindle store but kept plugging away, selling my hard copy books at events and shows, staying out for several hours at a time and sometimes not getting home until one o’clock in the morning. Then a writer friend told me about how well she was doing selling her books in e-book format. I didn’t give it a try until September of last year but once I did I never looked back. No more long days at events and long nights promoting my books. Now I can do all my promotion from the comfort of my home. No production cost (outside of the minimal cost of a book cover), no shipping cost, no storage cost and no more lugging heavy boxes of books from show to show. Thank God for the e-book revolution!
Another thing I wish I’d known was how to write for the e-book market. Having written books for the traditional paper book market I thought simply converting those novels to e-books would have done the trick. Not so. I soon found out that the majority of readers of e-books, particularly those I encountered in the Amazon kindle store, wanted books that were shorter and faster paced. They wanted to be thrown directly into the action. The less time spent on set up or back story, the better. Since purchasing a kindle my own reading style has changed, where short and sweet are well received and the lengthier novels sit in my book list and I hardly ever get around to reading them. I’ve since adjusted my writing style and go for suspenseful quickies over longer tomes.
Finally, I wish I’d known how best to promote my e-books on Amazon.com. I’ve spent hundreds on paid ads, many with little impact on sales. Then I tried something different, something free – I gave the books away in the Kindle Direct Publishing Select Program. Over thirty thousand people downloaded ‘Hot Summer’ over a 2-day period and after that my sales took off. The next day my novel hit the # 4 position on the contemporary romance chart and # 47 in the entire Kindle store. Nothing has enhanced visibility for ‘Hot Summer’ like giving it away for free.
So, in summary, my key learnings within the past year are:
- If you haven’t yet joined the e-book revolution, get on board now.
- If you’re writing for the e-book market make sure the story grabs the reader from the beginning. Make it fast paced and not so long that it is tiring.
- Be sure to include freebies in your marketing plan.
I hope I’ve given you information that you can use to make your own writing journey a success. And if you’d like to unwind with a romance novel and a glass of wine you can have a peek at Hot Summer. Here’s what it’s about:
A hot-tempered spitfire and a sexy, arrogant man – put them together and sparks fly!
After her first embarrassing encounter Summer Jones vows to stay away from suave record producer, Lance Munroe. But then she ends up working for the man. Her quick temper and sharp tongue keep landing her in hot water with him but no matter how hard she tries she can’t deny her growing attraction for him. Then they go on a business trip to Jamaica – and her world is turned upside down.
Lance is intrigued by the feisty woman who practically tells him off the first time they meet. When they begin working together he realizes how much he enjoys the challenge of taming the little tigress. But, before he knows it, he’s the one caught in the snare of passion. The tables are turned – the tigress has tamed the lion.
If you love the sizzle of a romance between two strong-willed individuals, follow Summer and Lance from Chicago to Jamaica and be swept away in the thrill of their hot summer.
Check out Hot Summer on Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Hot-Summer-ebook/dp/B005OTKXKO/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1331866446&sr=1-1
To the readers of authorrescue.com/blog/ have a great day and ‘Happy reading!”
