Happy Saturday

number 7 LGBT fiction ranking (yay)

It’s still Saturday where I’m at (for a few more minutes), and guess whose book is currently in the Top 10 of Free LGBT Fiction books on Amazon right now? 😀 That’s its highest ranking among all the charts it’s been on since its release, by the way. (It’s also currently in the Top 30 of Free Women’s Fiction books.) Now to figure out how to keep it up there when the book goes back to regular price tomorrow…🤔

All the credit to @TheBookTweeters, Freebooksy, and The Fussy Librarian for all the book promo this past few days. And starting next month, I’ll be going exclusive with KDP Select. (It won’t be immediately on October 1st, despite what I may have said before, as I have to delist my book from other sites, and that could take a while.) I’m intrigued over the idea of earning coins from page reads there, and hopefully things work out from the exclusivity. To Draft2Digital, Apple Books, Smashwords, Kobo, and B&N, all my thank-yous, and adios.

She’s Free (Again!)

playgirl cover (new silhouette didot 5)

Who wants a freebie? 😀 My work will be leaving Wide Distribution at the end of this month, as I’ll be going exclusive with Amazon’s KDP Select starting in October. (It’s temporary, but I’ll see how that works out for me for the time I’m with KDP Select.) For those who prefer getting their eBooks on non-Amazon sites, this is your last chance to get my book, and for free! (You can also get it at no charge on Amazon as well.)

This “Goodbye To Wide (Distribution)” sale (I know–not a catchy name) starts now and ends 11:59PM PDT 9/30/23.

Link to non-Amazon stores 

Link to Amazon (and I finally got my first rating there, and it’s not a bad one, too!)

Falling For Evelyn

20230925_002309~2

Has it been over six months since I last reported on my book-and-candle combo of the moment?

I’ve owned that book for over a year now (shout out to the thrift store that sold it for $1), and why it took me till now to finally read it is beyond me. But I’m reading it, and I’m impressed so far. I’m currently at the part where Evelyn describes her first husband, and though it’s tempting to skip to her time with Celia (I hear it’s a juicy read), I’m still that nerd who must read everything in order.

And that candle…I don’t light Bath & Body Works candles as often as I used to, thanks to my preference for pure soy/coconut wax candles. I do have a few of them, though, and the scent coming from Fall In Love…it’s like Burberry’s Her perfume filling up my whole apartment right now. Happy Autumn to me!

More Changes…And Frustrations!

playgirl cover (new silhouette didot 5)

I finally made the genre change for my book. The simple process may have taken longer for me than it should have, but I was also working on another book cover for it. (And I also hit a busy period with my day job.) I also made some minor changes to the manuscript, which I had to do and I have my reasons why (I can be an edit slut who trips over trivial shit). Even though over 2K people now have my book (thanks to the free book promos from earlier this month) and I may be shooting myself in the foot here. Nonetheless, I’m finally FINALLY done with revising The Playgirl. It’s in the proper genres, the story is now truly to my liking (even though someone on Booksirens thinks otherwise–more on this later), and it’s got a cover I wish I could’ve gone with for its true debut back in July.

A little backstory to the cover: I selected that image as it was another one of my cover alternatives (you always need cover image backups). With my protagonist being a liberated, fun-loving woman, you don’t get more liberated than (an image of what appears to be) a nude woman enjoying herself. I chose the font design/arrangement because there’s something to the Didot font (that you see in the title and author name) that’s stylish and dramatic (and my story has elements of both). I also drew inspiration from the typography found in Harpers Bazaar magazines during the Tilberis-Baron days during the 1990s, and the result just pops. And, yes, I did that cover myself. Graphic design is starting to become my passion, haha.

*VENT ALERT!*

I have to say: I still feel like a total noob in this self-pub game. Here I am, still making some changes to a book I worked on for seven-plus years. I should’ve been fully ready with my shit when I clicked on Publish in late July this year, but I guess I wasn’t.  So I stumbled here and there with my debut. That said, it’s all a learning process. With my day job, I know I was a lot different in my craft when I started in my profession over 12 years ago than I am today. I’m sure I’ll be a totally different writer 12 years from now. Not in terms of content, though–I know what my forte is!

I plan on doing another freebie promo for the “new and improved yet again” Playgirl; it will likely be towards the end of this month. I’ll announce it at the same time I reveal my other bit of Important News. For those who got free copies of my book with its 1st and 2nd covers, you can get one more cover to add to your collection!😆

And, of course, get my book here (Amazon) and here (non-Amazon links).

Apologies From A Self-Pub Noob

Well, it was bound to happen: I made a mistake with my first eBook. Maybe you can’t tell from looking at it, but thanks to one of my friends (who was also the very first one to read my book), I realized that The Playgirl got listed in the wrong genre. Friend texted me Wednesday to call her to discuss what’s she read so far, and, during my lunch break, she clearly told me that it’s no Romance novel. Ack! She’s liking the book so far, but she ended up reading the last couple of chapters first before starting from the beginning and made the conclusion. (She also says she’s got a long ways to go before finishing the book; she, like me, works a full-time job with long hours, so it will be a while before her review.)

As I processed her criticism while at my day job, I began thinking about if my book was truly Romance or not. “Women’s Fiction” was the genre my friend suggested to me when switching genres. When I finally got home from work, I looked up the difference between Romance and Women’s Fiction. Articles like this and this were quite informative. It’s funny; in all those days leading up to releasing my first eBook back in late (a book that I’ve worked on for seven-plus years), the one thing I didn’t really put much effort into was finding out its proper genre. For the record, I did not choose Contemporary Romance to get a shot of earning the big bucks. I felt Contemporary Romance originally fit my book because of the romantic storyline between my protagonist and her love interest. Without giving too much away here, though, I was starting to understand why my friend suggested my book to be in the “Women’s Fiction” genre.

When it comes to my writing, I strive to make everything as near-perfect as possible. Alas…My noob status as a self-pub author is sooo on full display here. Maybe you can also tell I went on this book on my own without any outside input until after I released it in July. (I have my reasons why.) I’m aware of how avid Romance book readers can be, and for those who got my book and expected a Romance in the truest sense, all my sincerest apologies. I hope readers of my book will still enjoy its story for what it is. The genre changes will be made very soon. There’s also a good chance that my cover (which I’ve changed twice now) will also undergo yet another change to reflect its appropriate genre but also the tone of the story. *sighs* I really like my current cover, but it looks more suitable for the Steamy Romance section (which my book does have) as opposed to the Women’s Fiction section. (Unless if there’s a Steamy Women’s Fiction section I’m unaware of…)

The story will stay the same, by the way.

I should also should mention: in my Twitter, I posted “Important News” coming to my book very soon. This wasn’t it, and I’ll save that other news for another time.

Gah! I can kind of hear Phyllis from The Office telling me this:

Quotes Of The Moment (9.11.23)

My heart goes out to all who were personally affected by the tragedies of that day.

Happy Monday

Thank you to JustKindleBooks.com and Bookspry.com for the book promos this weekend!

And look who’s currently in Amazon’s Top 25 of Free Contemporary Romance books! (OK, I may not be topping the charts but it’s a start!) At the risk of sounding like a total noob in this self-pub game, I gotta say: book promos really work! You don’t have to go to BookBub; I didn’t, and I don’t want to take out a loan to get a promo deal with them right now. The sites I used are pretty affordable, and JKB does have a $5 off promo code for first-time users. 

Now, onto figuring out how to get sales (and actually get some royalties for a change) when my book goes back to its regular sales price… 🤔😂

amazon rank (con. rom free chart 9-4-23 new!)

ETA: she’s now at #9. Top 10, bay-bee!! 😁