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As my adventures in advertising and marketing my self-published books continue, I thought I’d share some lessons from my latest $0.99 promotion of the first book in The Conjurors Series. For this attempt, I clustered five different advertisements within one…
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In Quest of an Honest Review
When I began my self-publishing journey a few years ago and sent my novel into the world, I’ll confess to being shocked when anyone didn’t like it. My first 3-star review led me to eat five peppermint patties in a…
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Lessons from a Failed KDP Select Free Promo
In the new year, I used three of my KDP free days to promote the first book in The Conjurors Series, The Society of Imaginary Friends. I was determined to put everything I had into the campaign in order to…
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What’s Your Story’s Logline?
In the writing world, there is a lot of talk about creating stories that are high concept, especially if you’re writing YA fantasy, like I am. Basically, if your story is high concept it has a compelling idea that can…
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Sweating Your Way to Writerly Greatness
When an athletes are wildly successful, no one questions that in addition to talent, they have put in countless hours practicing, relentlessly drilling themselves on specific maneuvers and training their bodies to be in prime condition. When a writer is wildly…
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When the First Book in Your Self-Published Series Is the Weakest
Once upon a time I decided to write a young adult fantasy novel. I spent hours plotting, writing, editing, rewriting. There were dozens of beta readers, five major rewrites of the entire story (and countless minor rewrites), and the help…
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How Important Is a Cover Reveal for Your Self-Published Novel?
Later this month I will be publishing the third book in The Conjurors Series, Guardians of the Boundary. As part of my pre-launch activities, I considered doing a major cover reveal. I’ve seen self-published authors execute cover reveals with success,…
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How to Keep the Lovers in Your YA Novel Apart
I’m not going to try to deny it. I love a great love story. Romeo and Juliet, Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy, Katniss and Peeta. The problem as a YA writer, though, is that there are only so many good…
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The Pros and Cons of Cursing in Young Adult Literature
After six books that were curse free, I’ll never forget my surprise near the end of the final Harry Potter book, when Mrs. Weasley calls the woman who killed her son a bitch. I remember wondering – can she do…
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How to Kill the Villian in Your YA Fantasy Series (with Style)
The time has come, now that I’m wrapping up my YA/Middle Grade fantasy series, The Conjurors, to say goodbye to my favorite character – the villain. I hope it’s not a spoiler to say that he’s going to get the axe.…
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