My indie journey, part 5

Midnight Treat has been for sale for 3 weeks now. I made the decision last week to increase the price from .99 to $2.99. I'm still doing little to no promo--I purposefully haven't done much just because I wanted to see the results of doing, um, nothing. :)

Week 3:

Smashwords: 5 copies

Amazon: 18

Barnes & Noble: 21

Total: 44 sales

Week 2:

Total: 37 sales

Week 1:

Total: 24 sales

My sales are low, but I'm averaging about 2 books a day if you look at the total three-week period. That's not bad for a relatively (okay, almost completely) unknown author.

But now it's time to kick it up a notch. I plan to pick one area of promo/social marketing to focus on at a time. I'm currently on Triberr and Facebook and some indie boards, but I am not too active on them. So this week, I will focus on Facebook. I will post a status every day (right now, I'm lucky to post once a week) and will comment and like others' statuses on the Home page each day. I'm also going to start blogging more. How? Not sure yet. What will I blog about? Not sure yet. But this is my week to figure that out.

Will these two things generate sales? Check back next week to find out. I'd love it if you followed me on Facebook, too.

Happy writing. Happy reading.

:)Becca

My indie journey continues, part 4

I considered not writing an update this week, because my sales haven't really sped up, but I started writing this series so anyone thinking about self-pubbing could go through the process, good/bad/ugly, with me.

I'm still not really doing any promo for this story, so the slow sales reflect that. But my goal this week is to come up with a promo plan and actually follow it. :)

My sales after 2 weeks:

Smashwords: 5

Amazon: 14

Barnes & Noble: 18

________________

Total: 37 sales

I learned yesterday that Midnight Treat was approved for Smashwords' premium catalog, which means it'll now be available at Apple, Kobo, Sony. Hopefully, that'll translate into more sales.

WEEK 1

Smashwords: 3 copies
Amazon: 8 copies
Barnes & Noble: 13 copies

______________________

Total: 24 sales

PRICE CHANGE:
After reading some interesting blogs about how Amazon is reconfiguring their algorithms (don't ask what that means, cuz I really have no idea), and how lower-priced ebooks might be affected, I decided to try an experiment. I upped the price of Midnight Treat from .99 to $2.99. Which means I'll get 70% royalties rather than 35%. Which means I'll make more money selling fewer books. But it could also mean I'll sell fewer books period.  I'll keep it this higher price for 3-4 weeks and see what happens, if anything.

As always, I'll keep you posted.

Part 3...Dipping my toes in the indie waters

Well, I did it. I uploaded my story and it's now "out there" for everyone to see and buy. :) I was afraid about the learning curve for formatting for nothing. It was actually very easy to upload on the three main sites (Amazon, BN, Smashwords)--all three just require a .DOC file. Each has a few different specifications, but it was quite simple to do. Whew!

Amazon|Barnes & Noble|Smashwords

Available now for just .99!

My problem? I uploaded before really having a promo plan in place. I think I was in such a hurry to get something out there, that I rushed things a bit. So, I'll share with you my numbers for the first week, but keep in mind the only promo I've done is to announce it on my Facebook page and once or twice on Twitter.

My sales after one week:
Smashwords: 3 copies
Amazon: 8 copies
Barnes & Noble: 13 copies

Yes. I'm putting in my 2 weeks notice at work. Not.

Considering I don't really have a name yet, thus nobody knows me (yet), I'm okay with these sales. Did a little part of me hope my story would jump right into the Top 100 lists? Well, of course it did. But I didn't really expect that. Really.

Chocolate & Roses Blog Hop

Welcome to the Chocolate and Roses Blog Hop & Giveaway.

May 5 - 9, 2012

To enter, all you need to do is leave me a comment on THIS post, and tell me about a time that someone gave you roses and/or chocolate. Then you'll be eligible to win a copy of my newest release and a Starbucks gift card.

Be sure to scroll to the bottom of this post to see the links to other bloggers. They're each giving away something on their blogs, too.

Chocolate makes everything better

My story has to do with chocolate and love, but not the romantic kind of love. A few years ago, I was going through a particularly rough time in my writing career. My young teenage daughter knew how much I loved chocolate and remembered me making the comment, "Chocolate makes everything better."

So she had my husband drive her to the local sweet shop, and used her own money to buy me my favorite chocolate. They put the chocolates in a simple white bag. She wrote on the outside, "This will make everything better, Mom."

And you know what? It did make everything better. I still have that bag, by the way. But the chocolates? Long gone, of course.

* * * * *

Here is a sneak peak of my newest story, an erotic romance that releases this week.

The man hooked his hands under the frame and tugged upward. She gasped. He was coming inside! He swung his leg quietly over the windowsill, his foot touching carpet.

“You told me you were on the fifth floor,” he said as he swung his other leg inside and unfolded to his full height. His voice was deep and raspy. His white teeth flashed in the dim light as he grinned.

Oh. My. God. He was in her apartment. “I, ah—” He must have seen her through the window and thought she was the other Marie. Again. Her insides fluttered with possibilities.

Tell him! He stalked toward the bed like a wild animal hunting its prey. He eased the sword from its sheath and leaned over her, holding it above her face. She, Cassie Snow, was smack dab in the middle of another couple’s naughty fantasy. Her eyes widened and need pulsed between her legs. Tell him he’s in the wrong apartment!

“You said you like to be scared,” he growled, right before he clamped a hand over her mouth and pressed the back of her head into the pillow.

He held the long silver blade in front of her eyes. “Make a sound and you’re dead. Understand?” She nodded and immediately stilled. She knew she should tell him he had the wrong girl. But she was always the wrong girl. Was it so horrible that she wanted to be the right girl for a change? Was it so wrong that she wished, just for one night, to be someone else? Someone who acted out naughty role-playing?

Barnes & Noble|Smashwords|Kindle

Available now!

All you have to do to enter the giveaway is leave me a comment on this post telling me about a time someone gave you roses or chocolate.

I will randomly choose a winner on May 10. Good luck!

*  *  *  *  *

Here is a list of other Chocolate & Roses blog hop participants. Visit their blogs for a chance to win more great prizes!

1. Lea Barrymire 

2. Michele Hart

3. Rose Leigh Woods

4. Carolyn Rosewood

5. Rita Bay

6. JoAnne Kendrick

7. Becca Simone This is me, so you don't need to click here again. :)

8. Siobhan Muir

9. Camile Carson

10. Wendy Soliman

11. Kasey Dean

12. Alicia White 

13. Lynn Tyler

14. Hennesee Andrews

15. Christi Bart

16. Nicole Morgan

17. Missy Lyons

18. Jan Graham

19. Casey Crow

20. Simone Sinna

21. Lea Kinkade

Dipping my toes in the indie waters, Part 2

If you want to read the first installment of my little series about my foray into self-publishing, please go here.

Okay. It's been about two weeks since I got my rights back to my short erotic romance. I honestly thought it would be uploaded and "out there" by now. I was so naive. Sigh.

Here's what I've done so far. I have a sexy new cover. Check this out!

Isn't it gorgeous? And hot? Thanks to the fabulous Tamra Westberry for designing the perfect cover for a reasonable price. Her turn-around time was quick, too. I highly recommend her.

I rewrote the blurb, changing it just a bit from the original.

Midnight Treat blurb:

Josh Panetti breaks into an apartment Halloween night, thinking he’s fulfilling the sexual fantasy of a woman he met at a costume party. Instead, he’s broken into Cassie Snow’s apartment. Cassie realizes immediately his mistake—she’d seen him at the party with her sexy upstairs neighbor. She should tell him he has the wrong apartment and the wrong girl.

But she’s always the wrong girl. Would it be so terrible to be the right girl for just one night?

*****

But now, the hard part. Formatting. Again, my naive little mind thought I'd read an article or two about how to format, then I'd take a couple of hours and format my story, and voila, it would be done.

Yeah. In my dreams.

Considering that I'm a techno-dork, I have a steep learning curve. I'm reading a series about ebook formatting at Author E.M.S. (a great resource for authors, by the way), and this blog post by Cameron Chapman. I don't know yet if I'll learn all the answers here, but I'll keep you posted.

Damn. I hope the next time you hear from me, it's to give you the buy links to my newly uploaded story.

Real orgasms with real men are better than the alternative

Welcome to Sunday Snippets, courtesy of the sexy and sinful Red Lipstick Journals. Last week, you read part of my opening and met my cursed and haunted hero, Thaddeus. Today, let's meet his heroine-to-be, Kate.

Kate Hargrove moaned as his tongue flicked across her clit and his fingers pinched her nipples. Ungodly pleasure radiated outward from her core, curling her toes under the sheets. Her body arched off the mattress as the orgasm ripped through her and a scream of ecstasy burst from her lips—

Dammit!
Her eyelids popped open. She was dreaming. Her studly lover wasn’t real. But her sated body told her the orgasm was real. Her pussy walls still throbbed in the aftermath.

"Holy shit," she muttered, scooting to a seated position in the bed, wiping the sweat from her forehead with the back of her wrist. Why couldn’t real orgasms with real live men be as good as that one?

Because great sex required meeting a man, which required dating or at least getting out more, neither of which she had time for.

Genre: Paranormal erotic romance
Length: 24k

Available now at Bookstrand

Coming soon to other online bookstores!

*  *  *  *  *

Find other steamy Sunday Snippets here.

DEEP BLUE Sunday Snippets #1

Welcome to Sunday Snippets. This is my first time on The Red Lipstick Journals. I hope you enjoy this snippet from my newest release: Deep Blue, available now at Bookstrand, and coming soon from most online bookstores.


He lifted his nose and sniffed the air. Over the strong, oily smells of the ship’s engine, he breathed in her scent. Her light, floral perfume couldn’t mask the sweet, musky smell of her sex. He closed his eyes and inhaled, focusing his thoughts between her legs.

Her soft moan cut across the waves, over the ship’s engine, and her startled eyes widened. Her hips shifted slightly, and he knew she felt his desire.

He smiled. She was the one.

"Good night, Kate," a couple said as they passed her. They said something else to her, but he no longer listened.

Kate.

If he still had a human heart, he might feel guilty, knowing what he was about to do, realizing the woman’s fate.

Death, for her, would likely be a blessing.

* * * *

Genre: Paranormal erotic romance

Available now|Bookstrand

To read some more great snippets and excerpts, go here.