Category Archives: Book Promotion

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Nominate The Empathic Detective for a free copy upon publication

My latest book, The Empathic Detective: A Mystery Thriller is on Kindle Scout for the next 30 days. If enough people nominate it for publication, it may be picked up by Kindle Press, and those who kept the nomination active until the last day will receive a free copy of the book.

Here’s the summary:

In a world of flying cars and portals to other planets, Detective Gerald Bryce has a rare power: the ability to read emotions. Suspect after suspect falls as he uses his skills and dogged police work to bring justice to his city, until one day he discovers a suspected murderess who shares his gift.

Desiree Lamont is recently widowed, and all evidence points to guilt in the murder of her billionaire husband. She offers Bryce the tantalizing prospect of sharing his life with someone who completely understands him, with someone who can ease his greatest emotional needs.

He soon discovers Desiree is far stronger than he imagined. She can not only read the emotions of others, she can manipulate them as well, making them do her bidding. She can control people even to the point of convincing them to commit murder at her direction.

When Bryce rejects her offer, a battle breaks out between the police and all the forces Desiree can bring to bear.

But other powers are at play as well, and they are far greater than Desiree and Bryce …

It’s easy to do. Just go to this link, sign in to your Amazon account and nominate the book.

https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/231ZRHSVZ156U

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Redwood: Servant of the State is Free on Amazon through this weekend!

Hey if you’d like to pick up a free copy of Redwood: Servant of the State, my highly rated first book, it’s available free on Amazon through this weekend (through October 11). Thousands of copies have already been downloaded. Be sure and download yours today.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OYV3MCY

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Advertising for Indie Authors – Part 2: Amazon Marketing Services

You sell books on Amazon. It makes sense to advertise on Amazon as well. Amazon Marketing Services lets you create ads that run on Amazon pages. While people are looking for books similar to yours, an ad will display on the page which hopefully entices them to click over to your book.

For an ad campaign I created for Redwood: Servant of the State, I chose to run the ad based on interests. My targeted interests were Teen and Young Adult, and Science Fiction and Fantasy.

I budgeted $125, and limited the time for a month total, running from about mid-May to mid-June. Here’s the stats for the run:

amazon marketing 1

Over 45,000 impressions looks impressive, but out of all those page views you’ll note only 39 people clicked on the ad, and of those only one person bought a book which was selling for $1.35 at the time. While the run didn’t go over the budget by a long shot, ultimately it did cost $23.50 to sell the one book. Here’s what the ad looked like:

amazon marketing 2While it was fun to have an ad for my book running alongside some other great books on Amazon, the return on investment proved weak. Things that could possibly improve the return might be a better ad. The basic ad only allows two lines of copy above an image of the cover. Perhaps different verbiage would lead to more clicks, and thus more sales.

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Advertising for Indie Authors – Part 1

As an indie author, I have the dilemma shared by others as to how to get the word out about my books. Naturally, I feel I’ve produced good works of fiction, but since I’m starting a “brand” or “business” from scratch featuring my name on these books, I have no ready or apparent avenues with which to support getting the word out.

I know I’m not alone. In my circle of friends, people have dutifully downloaded my books and offered encouragement, support, and advice. A friend of a friend self published a few years ago, and his book has languished online. Our mutual friend put us in contact with one another. His questions: How do you get sales? How do you advertise your books? How do you get the word out about what you’ve written?

In thinking about these questions, I thought it might be useful to record my advertising efforts on this site, for better or worse. Perhaps this might help other new indies facing similar questions about spreading the word regarding their books.

I certainly haven’t found the magic bullet yet, but perhaps my experiences can lead authors toward productive advertising avenues, and maybe help them avoid ones that are not so useful.

So stay tuned, and I’ll share what I’ve discovered so far.

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Grab both Redwood 1 and 2 for a low price!

Redwood, Servant of the State has a combined 4.2 rating on Amazon. Now, the sequel is out. You can download both books cheaper than buying them separately, for a limited time. Click here for details.

 

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Grab Redwood: Servant of the State for Free this weekend!

Hey for a limited time, my first book Redwood: Servant of the State is available free to download in its entirety on Amazon. This weekend only (May 1-3).

Young Servant of the State Marcus Savitch lives on Redwood, a restricted outer planet in the Janus String where humans are confined to one isolated city. Extraordinarily bright, a computer hacker and spaceship pilot, Marcus holds a dark secret. Afflicted with hematophagia, a forbidden condition compelling him to feed on blood, he lives in constant fear of eradication by the State. When his secret is exposed, he escapes and heads toward the giant trees at Redwood’s center. There, despite restrictions, a team of specialists from New Texas has been conducting clandestine research for decades on the mysterious creatures living deep in the forest. When revolution erupts on the outer planets, Marcus finds himself going back to the city he escaped from, this time with a small army at his side.

Download it for your Kindle today!

 

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Redwood: Twelver is Out!

The sequel to Redwood: Servant of the State is out! Redwood: Twelver is available exclusively on Amazon as an e-book download. Only 99 cents.

It’s a been a great 6 months writing this sequel, following the adventures of Marcus, Dee Dee, and the triplets. I hope readers enjoy the book as much as I did writing it.

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Read for free the first five chapters of my book Redwood: Agent of the State, a science fiction adventure thriller, on Goodreads or get the complete Kindle ebook on Amazon for only 99 cents.

 

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Redwood: Servant of the State is Free

Redwood: Servant of the State is available as a free download in its entirety from Amazon until Feb. 4. Take this opportunity to load up a great YA science fiction novel on your Kindle.

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Dan Poynter’s Global E-book Awards

Redwood: Servant of the State has been accepted as a nominee for Dan Poynter’s Global E-book Awards, in the categories of Science Fiction and Young Adult.

 

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Read for free the first five chapters of my book Redwood: Agent of the State, a science fiction adventure thriller, on Goodreads or get the complete Kindle ebook on Amazon for only 99 cents.

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Indiegogo campaign for Redwood: Twelver starts today

Today I’m starting a campaign to help raise funds to publish Redwood: Twelver, the second in the Redwood series. You can find the campaign here. Please help spread the word!

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Read for free the first five chapters of my book Redwood: Agent of the State, a science fiction adventure thriller, on Goodreads or get the complete Kindle ebook on Amazon for only 99 cents