A Book Promotion Idea Costing Less Than $20

Posted on September 20, 2018 by Zoe M. McCarthy

One of the best things I do for under $20 is buy Kindle gift e-books for my titles when they’re on sale for 99¢. I have them sent to my email address, then, as I need them, I forward them to readers. The readers click on the gift link and download the book.

Here are some ways I use the 20 (or more) books I purchase.

Giveaways for online parties.

Example: I have joined Facebook parties. During my half hour spot, I give away one to two books. Affordable at 99¢ per book. If I’m pressed for time, sometimes I just send memes of my titles that the party organizer inserts for extra giveaways. I offer one to two books. When I send winners their free books, I ask for a review (ask not push).

Giveaways for promotion site events.

Example: I pay AXP (Author Cross Promotions) $30 for their Classic Read & Review program. This AXP event is a program to gain reviews, and the readers know this before they request a book. AXP puts my title on their site. Readers, tell AXP they want to read my book. AXP sends me their email addresses (good for email lists). I take advantage of building relationships with readers and ask if they can accept a Kindle gift book. Those still interested send me an email, then I forward one of my gift books to them, asking for a review. Even though all don’t post reviews, my title does get reviews. Sending 99¢ copies keeps the cost manageable.

Blog giveaways.

Example: When a book is coming out, I sign up for blogs to promote my book. Many hosts request I give away a book. For my Twisty Creek series, I’ll be able to send a 99¢ e-book copy of Book 1 to winners of blog contests to interest them in reading Book 2.

Thank you gifts to your street team or influencers.

Example:I searched for popular Kindle books on sale for 99¢, and bought a bunch to give to the people who helped me promote my book. I didn’t give away my own books, because most of my team had already read my books.

Spontaneous giveaways. It’s nice to have 99¢ e-books on hand to giveaway for any reason.

Why you should buy twenty Kindle Gift e-books when your books are on sale for 99¢. Click to tweet.

What other ways can authors use 99¢ Kindle Gift e-books?

Buy Link

Suddenly unemployed, Allie Masterson returns home to Cary, North Carolina where she caddies for her father on the PGA Seniors Tour. There, she encounters a man who possesses an alluring gift of reading the contours of the green. Fascinated with his uncanny ability, Allie is excited to meet the Green Whisperer—until she discovers that the easygoing caddy is actually Shoo Leonard, the boy who teased her relentlessly when they were kids. Despite Allie’s reservations, when Shoo is faced with having to overcome a hand injury, she agrees to use her sport science degree to become his trainer…and then she falls for him.

Shoo Leonard is grateful to Allie for her singular determination to get him ready for the PGA tour, but he isn’t ready for anything more. Still raw from a broken engagement and focused on his career, he’s content to be her fist-bumping buddy…but then he falls for her.

What seems like a happily-ever-after on the horizon takes a turn when Allie decides she’s become a distraction to Shoo’s career. Is it time for her to step away or can The Putting Green Whisperer find the right words to make her stay?

Less Common Interview Questions for Blog Author Interviews

Posted on September 13, 2018 by Zoe M. McCarthy

For The Putting Green Whisperer releasing tomorrow, I had a stack of interviews for which I answered bloggers’ questions. At first, I liked the common questions, but was ashamed at the reason. I could copy those answers from other interviews and get the interview job done.

After I’d worked on answering a few unusual questions, I realized they revealed more about me and my story. Below, I list some less common interview questions that may tell more about an author and the author’s book.

Less Common Interview Questions About the Author

What was the most surprising thing you learned about yourself as you wrote this book?
What was the best money you ever spent for your writing career?
What does literary success look like to you?
How could reading your readers’ reviews and comments help you?
Have you met any of your favorite authors? What was the moment like?
Is it true that being a published author is glamorous? Why or why not?
Were you an avid reader as a child? What did you read?
How does your faith affect your writing?
What would you be doing if you weren’t writing?
If you could be a fictional character from literature for one day, who would you be and why?
If you were a pair shoes, what style, brand, and color would you be?
If you’ve been on a writer’s retreat, what was the greatest benefit to you?
What is one book that made you cry and why?
How does writing affect your energy level?
What’s more important to you, to be original or to deliver to readers what they want?
What was an early experience where you learned that language had power?
What writing groups or events do you attend, and what are the benefits?
What is an interesting event that occurred in your life?

Less Common Interview Questions About the Book

What did you edit out of this book and why?
What do you love about this story?
What do you hope readers will tell others about this book?
What holiday would your main character enjoy celebrating most and why?
How is your main character more similar or different than you in personality?
What would your protagonist say about how you’ve put him/her in the story?

Less common author interview questions can reveal more about authors and their novels. Click to tweet.

What other less common questions have you asked or been asked for author interviews?

Pre-order Link Releases tomorrow.

Tips for Cleaning Up Your Manuscript for a Hired Editor

Posted on September 6, 2018 by Zoe M. McCarthy

I’m not talking about formatting. I’m talking about making your manuscript a pleasure for your editor to work on. There’s benefits for you too.

Benefits of Clean-as-Possible Manuscripts

Cleaning up grammar and smaller problems, allows your editor to concentrate on structure and story problems. Of course, this depends on the type of edit you purchase: Developmental, line, copy, proofreading or a combination.

image by OpenClipart-Vectors

Your editor will spend less time on your manuscript. If she charges by the hour, that’s less editing costs for you. If she charges by word count, your tight manuscript will reduce editing costs. If she charges a flat fee based on a writing sample, a clean sample that represents your manuscript may reduce the fee.

If you learn from her past edits, she might be more likely to put you on her schedule again. As a critique partner to six members in a group, I wanted to help make other writer’s manuscripts shine, not plow through the same problems and mistakes over and over.

Tips to Clean Up Your Manuscript

Be aware of the problems and errors an editor (or critique partners) marked on your last manuscript. As you write and edit your current story, look for those problems. For example, my editor marked a lot of sentences as awkward on a past manuscript. I carried that warning in my back pocket as I wrote my next story. I may still have awkward sentences but a lot less.

image by ClkeFreeVectorImages

Reduce using words whose meanings aren’t the right word for sentences. If you’re the least unsure of the meaning of a word you used, look it up. Use your editor’s dictionary version if possible.

Reduce overused words. Writers tend to overuse certain words in their manuscripts. Often they repeat different words for different manuscripts. For example, for one story while was my overused word. For another, nice was a favorite. If you use Scrivener, it has an easy-to-use tool to list every word in a manuscript and its frequency. Use such a tool or Find to manage overused words.

Read through your manuscript and then read it aloud or let your electronic reader read it to you. I do this scene by scene, catching typos, poor sentence-length patterns, and other problems. If you have Beta readers who’ll read the manuscript also, all the better.

Tips and reasons to clean up your manuscript for a hired editor. Click to tweet.

What other tasks do you recommend to clean up a manuscript for a hired editor?

Pre-order Link $0.99 through 9-14-2018.