Category: Indie Author Series

Indie Author Series, YA Indie Carnival

YA Author Series: Top 10 Blog Tactics

wireless miceCrap! There are rules to blogging? I might be in trouble.

With this week’s topic, I needed to do my research. And here are the results in easily digestible chunks…My Top 10 Best Blog Tactics from other blogs.

10.  Help a Sister Out – (advice by iFabbo) If you see something on another blog that is useful, re-blog or re-tweet it. Your followers will appreciate that you are helping them find others of interest.

9. Make a Date – (advice by Log My Calls) Continue reading “YA Author Series: Top 10 Blog Tactics” →

Indie Author Series, YA Indie Carnival

Social Media: What works for you?

vintage-social-networking

This week the YA Author Club talks about social media. I had to include the graphic above. I ran across this a year ago and keep a copy by my desk. It makes me smile.

I’m lucky to have a couple of friends that are social ninjas. I can go to them from time to time for advice. And that’s my advice to you. If you don’t know what you’re doing. Find someone who does. Every network has its own set of unspoken rules. Breaking those rules can harm your reputation online.

I’m also a bit of explorer (actually it’s more of a mindless wanderer thing); whatever Continue reading “Social Media: What works for you?” →

Indie Author Series, YA Indie Carnival

Indie Author Series: Pricing your eBook

I’ll bet the first thing you asked yourself when you completed your 200+ page novel after weeks and months of blood, sweat, and tears was, “how much am I gonna sell this for?”

What? No? Well, my friend, you are in good company.

The problem is that there is no magic price point. Every project is different and so every price is different dependent on variables such as popularity of the author, length, demand on the genre, release timing, etc.

In a study released in May by Smashwords, $2.99 is the most common price for an indie novel, up from 99 cents in 2012.

2013-05-15-howmanybooksateachpricepointNEW

The study also says that lower priced novels Continue reading “Indie Author Series: Pricing your eBook” →

Indie Author Series, YA Indie Carnival

Do word counts count?

count

Other articles you might like: 

Do word counts count 2018 update

How is the virus changing preferred book formats?

There are surprisingly few articles on the subject of word and page counts in novel writing. Yet, it is something that perplexes many indie authors.

According to Colleen Lindsay, associate director for marketing, social media and reader experience for NAL/Berkley and former book agent, the rule of thumb on word count for mainstream YA fiction novels is between 45 and 80 thousand words. She goes on to say that YA paranormal and fantasy average word counts tend to run a little higher with the top of the range at 120 thousand. She notes that many publishers try to stay below 100 thousand to keep production costs low.

Continue reading “Do word counts count?” →
Indie Author Series, YA Indie Carnival

Indie Author Series: Categorizing your Book

For self published authors, choosing the right category is vital. It’s how your book reaches its audience.

When I was in high school, I worked at the city library. There I learned that fiction books are shelved by the author’s last name. Yes, there were special areas for mysteries and children’s books, but as far as categories go, there weren’t really any. Almost all fiction titles were shelved in one place, regardless of genre. Continue reading “Indie Author Series: Categorizing your Book” →

Indie Author Series, YA Indie Carnival

YA Author Series: Keywords and Tags

bryna butlerI’m constantly experimenting with keywords and tags. They are a must need for any author trying to sell books online. Tags can help readers find your books. Amazon has what I feel is the most advanced system for tag/keyword use.

If you publish through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing, you can designate two categories for your books and up to seven keywords. Use these. Amazon takes into Continue reading “YA Author Series: Keywords and Tags” →