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What should I include in my e-books to drive subscription, sales, and affiliate income?

In the last two weeks, I’ve been sharing tips from my recent Bookbub experience. You can catch those installments HERE and HERE. Today I’m picking up where I left off, and I’m talking about ways to turn free (or deeply discounted) e-books into paid sales.

  • Want people to read your next, PAID book? Put in an excerpt and a link to buy it. Actually, I put in excerpts from most of my other books at the end of my e-books. Why not? I’m not killing trees to do it. People don’t have to read them if they don’t want to.
  1. What link should you use when sending readers out for a “buy”? While I am eager to send people back to the sales site they came from for their review, and also willing to update that one link to the review page in the different versions of the e-book I create for each sales site, I have a different strategy for “buys.” See affiliate/associate income opportunities, below.
  2. Be sure you link your book(s) everywhere you refer to it in your e-book. Maybe that includes a “Books by the Author” page or references in your bio. What link(s) to use? See affiliate/associate income opportunities, below.
  • Take advantage of affiliate/associate income opportunities. Amazon, iBooks, Nook, Kobo, and Smashwords allow you to make money off sales you refer to them. I’m going to illustrate only Amazon, but the process is somewhat similar for each. You sign up for the program, and you generate links to use on your website and social media that identify you as the referrer, and if someone makes a purchase, you get a cut. How big a cut? Depends on how many “referrals” click through from your links in a month. At least for Amazon, if they click through from your link, you get a cut of ANYTHING they buy in the next 48 hours, whether they buy your merchandise or not. Yes, you read that right. And it’s not just books. You can link to any product they carry. Alas, though, you cannot link from e-books. This is muy importante. So your e-book needs to refer readers back to a page on your website with your affiliate links. Also, Google will deactivate your links if you have “too many” affiliate links on one page. For this reason, I focus on Amazon and Apple, because together they account for 87% of my sales. Here’s what my strategy looks like to the reader:

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Here’s what the page looks like that I send readers back to from the “continue reading” link (note I don’t say “buy”!):

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The readers can’t see my affiliate links. But under Amazon’s rules I do need to disclose them, and I do this at the top of the page and in the sidebar. Personally, I use this verbiage:

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Now, how did directing readers to the page on my website with my affiliate links (and links to all the other sales sites, too—I don’t play favorites) impact the monetary value of my promotions? Here’s my Amazon affiliate page:

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The big bars on the far right represent that additional $$ I’ve made so far in affiliate fees this month since my Bookbub on the 14th, post-promotions. I’m not getting rich, but it’s another $100+ and counting. All told, I made $200 from January 14-31 in affiliate income from Amazon.

And, finally, what do my website hits look like as a result of funneling people back to it from my bio and book excerpts? Note: the first three bars are the three days before my Bookbub. The last five bars represent the Bookbub day and the days following it. It’s a big increase.

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Where were the readers landing/visiting? Exactly where I hoped they would. My affiliate link pages are Fiction and Nonfiction. My bio takes them to the home page. And the next book in the series, the one I hope they pay for as a result of reading Saving Grace, is Leaving Annalise, and the the one after that is Finding Harmony.

 

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Finally, where did visitors click TO from my website?

 

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Well, it’s clear why my affiliate income on Amazon went up, isn’t it? Thirty-six people clicked affiliate links taking them there, and seven clicked Apple affiliate links. You can also see a few Kobo and Google Play readers clicking through. Sorry, Barnes and Noble. No Nook. In fact, this was a noticeable change from past Bookbub promotions: less downloads/sales on Nook.

I’ve had eight Bookbub promotions in the last 2 1/2 years, and I wish with all my heart I’d figured these things out for 1-7, because I hadn’t. But every new day is a chance to get a little smarter, right?

Any tips on strategies that have worked for you are welcomed in the comments below.

Good luck!

Pamela

pamela author portraitPamela Fagan Hutchins writes overly long e-mails, hilarious nonfiction, and  series mysteries, like Katie & Annalise which includes the bestselling Saving Grace, and Emily which she kicks off with the 2015 WINNER of the USA Best Book Award for Cross Genre Fiction, Heaven to Betsy. She resides deep in the heart of Nowheresville, Texas and in the frozen north of Snowheresville, Wyoming. Pamela has a passion for great writing and smart authorpreneurship as well as long hikes with her hunky husband and pack of rescue dogs, traveling in the Bookmobile, and experimenting with her Keurig. She also leaps medium-tall buildings in a single bound (if she gets a good running start).

Nifty Enhancement to Amazon Giveaways

A few months ago I blogged on Amazon giveaways. It’s a neat new feature, and I like it. But I wasn’t in love with the entrance requirements. At the time, basically about the only option to require was that people follow you on Twitter, and I find Twitter fairly useless for promoting the purchase of books. It’s great if you want to mock Kim Kardashian or engage in silly conversations about The Bachelorette with strangers, though.

So recently, Amazon added a better option for authors doing book giveaways: for entrants to follow you on AMAZON in order to enter the contest. Now you’re talking, Amazon. So if 3000 people enter your contest, then those 3000 people will get emails from Amazon next time you release a new book. SWEET.

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If you want to enter to win a copy of my Heaven to Betsy (Emily #1), you can, too: https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/8718d33fbbfe4af2#ln-en.

Thanks, Papa Jeff.

Pamela

Pamela

pamela author portraitPamela Fagan Hutchins writes overly long e-mails, hilarious nonfiction, and  series mysteries, like Katie & Annalise which includes the bestselling Saving Grace, and Emily which she kicks off with the 2015 WINNER of the USA Best Book Award for Cross Genre Fiction, Heaven to Betsy. She resides deep in the heart of Nowheresville, Texas and in the frozen north of Snowheresville, Wyoming. Pamela has a passion for great writing and smart authorpreneurship as well as long hikes with her hunky husband and pack of rescue dogs, traveling in the Bookmobile, and experimenting with her Keurig. She also leaps medium-tall buildings in a single bound (if she gets a good running start).

SkipJack x 4 = 5! Bundles of Love and Box Sets

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For the last three years, SkipJack and its authors have been publishing (and writing) furiously. The most successful journeymen in the independent publishing (J.A. Konrath, for one) world opine that it takes four to six complementary books from an author before she starts to earn real money (if ever). That’s not unlike what you’ll learn from the traditional publishing model. The fourth book is the tipping point. Publishers expect to see growing sales with each book, but if the author doesn’t show signs that he will get there by four, then that publisher is done with him.

 

The SkipJack authors are working hard toward those numbers.

 

  • The first SkipJack author out of the gate was Pamela Fagan Hutchins. Her seventh novel is available for e-book pre-order, now (Hell to Pay (Emily #3)). Pamela’s income grew exponentially when she released her fourth novel and has continued on that trajectory since then. Her earnings were far less than she needed to quit her day job before that fourth novel. The attorney has hung up her business suit since then. Her Saving Grace was selected for a Bookbub promotion on January 14th.
  • The next SkipJack author, Rebecca Nolen, has two novels out. Bookbub has just selected her thriller Deadly Thyme for promotion January 4th.
  • Our third author, Ken Oder, has released two novels and is at work on the third in his Whippoorwill Hollow series. Ken’s The Closing will be featured for the second time on Bookbub on January 1st.
  • Our latest novelist, Marcy McKay, released her debut novel, Pennies from Burger Heaven, on December 28th.

 

With all of this promotion and these new releases/pre-orders going on at the same time, SkipJack and its authors decided to band together to create synergy amongst each other, to hopefully help their readers discover books from their compadres, by releasing a four-author boxed set. Murder, They Wrote: Four SkipJack Mysteries, was born, featuring Saving Grace and Leaving Annalise from Hutchins, The Closing from Oder, Deadly Thyme from Nolen, and Pennies from Burger Heaven from McKay.

 

There’s nothing easier to put together than a boxed set, whether from one author or multiple authors.

 

Note: Hutchins has realized a steady income stream from her Katie & Annalise boxed set and is a big believer in the concept of offering people a good deal to encourage them to buy multiple books at once rather than wait for them remember to go back and buy more expensive books one by one, because often life interrupts the reader and those future purchases are greatly delayed or never occur. As a result, she’ll release an Emily boxed set in April of 2016, right after Hell to Pay (Emily #3) goes live.

 

Anyway, with boxed sets, the component books are already edited and tested, the copy is written. All that’s needed is a title and cover, really, to up-monetize the existing assets.

 

SkipJack and its authors scanned boxed sets online and brainstormed quickly for a title and reached consensus. They turned to their relationship with Heidi Dorey, the cover artist who has created all of Hutchins’ and Nolen’s covers, for a speedy cover. They surveyed boxed set costs and decided that they would be in line with the competition if they charged $7.99 for the four e-books, and that they would add a BONUS free book to the set (altogether, the five e-books retail for nearly $14.00). They decided to go with KDP Select for at least 90 days so that they’d be able to take advantage of Kindle Unlimited and KDP Select free days, under the theory that this would be the strategy to help them get the most reviews in 90-days, and reviews aer the driving force behind sales/rankings down the road. They compiled the e-book and the copy. They moved quickly, even over the Christmas holidays, although a day or two was lost in the timeline here or there.

 

And by December 27, the e-book was ready and uploaded to Kindle Direct Publishing, in plenty of time to allow for the 12-to-24-hour publishing time and still be up by Oder’s January 1st Bookbub promotion, when extra attention to his books was expected.

 

Only it wasn’t that easy. SkipJack attempted to publish the book from its own KDP account and was contacted by KDP 24-hours later. They needed documentation that each of the authors was voluntarily making their books available for the boxed set and retaining copyright. It wasn’t a huge hurdle, and one that we were able to satisfy within another 24-hours, but it was unexpected (whether it should have been or not—a nice surprise, really, that Amazon works hard to protect copyright). It took another 24-hours for KDP to upload it, a total of a three-day delay. A lesson learned for us (and you all): multi-author boxed sets will create a crimp in your publication timeline.

 

So, while Nolen, Oder, and McKay don’t each have four to six complementary books out yet, they’ll be able to participate in a multi-book offer by banding together (with Hutchins), which will give them a bump similar to the one they’d get if they did have the additional books out. They’ll align themselves directly with other top-notch books/authors, and they’ll have an additional asset to earn from, timed (as best as they could make it) to coincide with the biggest and best promotion for e-books available, in a one-two-three punch.

 

It’s a lot of good work, good luck, and good strategy coming together, and we love it when that happens.

 

Eric

Tis’ the Season to “Write Your Own Story”. Merry Christmas !

 

Merry Christmas from SkipJack Publishing.  The following is a repost from Pamela Fagan Hutchins on putting yourself out there.  It’s timely and really, it’s not just about writing; it’s abo

christmas-service-planning-tips-headerut living your best life. LOVE your life, every line of it.  Write your own Story this holiday season.  Practice makes perfect,  get a jump on 2016.  Cheers and Eggnog.

 

 

 

One of the hardest things about writing, any writing, is putting it out there. I’ll bet you can remember the first time you put your heart on paper and let someone else see you bleed. Scary stuff, isn’t it? Whether it’s a paper in college, a blog post, a short story for a contest, or sometimes even a Facebook post. Been there. Hurt like that.

I’ve spent my whole life pretending I was a writer that wasn’t a writer. In fact, I spent most of my life pretending I was things I wasn’t or didn’t want to be, things that satisfied what I thought people expected of me. Things that made me serious. Successful. Safe. I played to my weaknesses, because then I could protect my strengths from exposure, keep them whole, keep myself whole. Maybe this makes sense to some of you. Maybe you’ve been there and hurt like that.

I chose a career where I had to write, but it was only words, not words. I entered a world of other people’s stories, not my own. I spent twenty years at it. I’m still doing it, in fact. I did the same thing in my personal life. With my first marriage. With athletics. With music. I put on a mask and played pretend.

Until seven years ago. Seven years ago, I found my courage. I used it to try out my voice. It wasn’t much of a voice. But the only way it was going to get stronger, better, truer, was if I kept using it.

So that’s what I did. I spent seven years training, learning, practicing, growing, strengthening. I listened to other voices. I sang along with them at times. Other times, I took the harmony role, or struck out on a melody all my own. Over seven years, my voice sang 1,500,000 words, through my fingers. One million five hundred thousand words. That’s seven million five hundred thousand letters, spaces, commas, periods, and God knows what else. It’s 500+ blog posts, on innumerable websites. It’s songs, poems, short stories, and essays. It’s six award-winning narrative nonfiction books published under SkipJack Publishing, and five novels, themselves the winners of multiple awards.

A lot of it was crap, or at least started as crap. That’s why it took seven years. Hell, I can write 1,500 words an hour in my sleep. I could have done the million and a half in that first year and called it a day. I didn’t just write those 1,500,000 words, I rewrote them, over and over and over.

There were five clear points along the way where I had to overcome an absolute maelstrom of doubt and fear inside me, but, yet, when I did, when I did it — put it out there — it moved me forward exponentially. They are the reason for those 1,500,000 words, not just the words as I first wrote them, but the words they became. As a writer, I want to share these points with you in case they help you put it out there, too. Because I think they were essential to my journey. You know the one. The writer’s journey. The one you’re on, if you’re reading this post.

The first — hitting publish on my first blog. Sounds goofy now when I say it. I thought I would turn to stone when I clicked the button the first time. But it got me over the fear that others would hear me (and not like me).

The second? Letting an editor read my work, a big time editor. Scary like the thought of ever using an Epilady again after my first horrible experience with that torture contraption 15 years ago. The conversation I had with that editor was one of the most important in my writing life. She gave me hope, without promises. Reality. It was 20 minutes of her life, and it was the next forty years of mine. Thank you, Jane Friedman.

The third was writing about the subjects most painful and personal to me in the first person and getting the hell over it being about me. Alcoholism. My flaws as a parent. The challenges I face in personal relationships. I learned to access that emotion, put it out there, and separate myself from it. Bonus: it helped other people. That motivates me. Now, finally, I can channel it into strangers, into fiction.

The fourth: when an agent read my whole manuscript. Read two of my whole manuscripts, in fact, back to back. I got the best advice of my fledgling writing career from her. Writing is rewriting, and voice without fully realized craft  is not enough. Thank you, Elizabeth Pomada. I took it to heart and spent the last two years working on craft. It paid off.

And the fifth? Entering my books in contests to be judged, scored, rated, compared, and critiqued. Thank you, writers who give their time to make this possible for their peers.

Putting it out there. It’s where the writer’s journey started for me. It’s what propels me forward on the path, sometimes in small steps and sometimes in quantum leaps. And it never stops, never, ever, ever stops. One million five hundred thousand words. That’s putting it out there. And if I want to make this writer’s gig my career, to go the route of indie publishing, I have to continue putting it out there. So, world, here’s my heart, you hold it in your hands. Take my soul, pass it around. It’s OK. You have my blessing.

I’m a writer. I can handle it.

 

pamela author portraitPamela Fagan Hutchins writes overly long e-mails, hilarious nonfiction, and  series mysteries, like Katie & Annalise which includes the bestselling Saving Grace, and Emily which she kicks off with the 2015 WINNER of the USA Best Book Award for Cross Genre Fiction, Heaven to Betsy. She resides deep in the heart of Nowheresville, Texas and in the frozen north of Snowheresville, Wyoming. Pamela has a passion for great writing and smart authorpreneurship as well as long hikes with her hunky husband and pack of rescue dogs, traveling in the Bookmobile, and experimenting with her Keurig. She also leaps medium-tall buildings in a single bound (if she gets a good running start).

Skip Jack Authors have been working hard in 2015.  New releases, Freebies, Book Bub deals.. it’s all coming in 2016.   Check out our authors here – SKIPJACK AUTHORS

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Libraries, REAL Books to touch and feel..and hand me downs.

What can you do with books??  Other than read them; you can stack them, look at them, decorate with them and even insulate a wall with them.  They are the BEST hand me down, re-purpose, recycle, GREEN gift you can give this Christmas season.  Give a book this year, support an Author and a bookstore.  Books are easy to wrap for those of us who are present-wrapping-challenged.  If you buy a book online, leave a review on the Author’s page, this HELPS more than you will ever know.

The season of goodwill and good tidings is a perfect time to take a young person who may never have stepped foot in a Library..to a Library.  Get dressed up, unleash that adventurous thrill seeking spirit, borrow a kid if you have too..and go to a Library this Christmas.  The SkipJack team is betting our elf stockings that it will change your life, if  only for a day.

 

Books

 

Inspiration for this blog came from an old post by Pamela Fagan Hutchins.  Great story below….

First, a story that horrifies my mother: When I was a child living about two miles outside the town of Buffalo, Wyoming, the highlight of each week during the summer after 2nd grade was a visit to the town’s small library to pick up my next seven Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew books. That old, dark library was my favorite place on earth. It gave me chills to stand between the tall shelves, breathe in the faintly mildewed loamy smell of old pages, and it opened up a world of adventures that eventually became my life as a mystery writer.

One day I’d been pestering my mother to take me into town, until finally I said, “Can I walk there by myself?” Whether it was with her permission (my version) or behind her back (her version), I walked two miles into town along the highway, juggling seven hardback books in my arms sans bag, to trade in for seven beautiful new ones, then walked home again. I remember it was hot and the books were heavy and cumbersome. My feet hurt. The sun burned my eyes. And it was the best day of my life, up until that point. It’s no surprise my third grade teacher told my parents their girl would become a mystery novelist someday.

Libraries rock. Libraries matter. Libraries need us, our books and our ebooks, and our thirst to read them.

So on to today’s indie publishing topic: libraries. I believe in events to gain visibility and sales for books. Despite my initial resistance, I also gave into my husband’s belief in giveaways to accomplish the same goal; I’m a believer now. As an indie author, I have spent the last few years experimenting with what types of events and giveaways create the GREATEST visibility and sales. I haven’t exhausted all my options yet, but I’m ready to report on one in particular: libraries.

Smashwords, love ’em or hate ’em, had this to say about libraries:

1.  Libraries perform an important social function by making books accessible to all readers in their community.  By supporting libraries, you’re supporting a culture of books.  2.  Libraries are powerful discovery engines, and powerful platform builders.  As an author, obscurity is the biggest challenge you face.  Libraries help readers discover you.  3.  Library patrons purchase a lot of books.  Readers who discover your books at libraries are more likely to purchase your other titles.  If you’re not available at libraries, it means these patrons will discover someone else.

I agree.

Getting your books in libraries: Do libraries buy my books? Yes, usually when I know someone on the library staff, sometimes when readers request them. Either way requires a lot of effort to get to one purchase. And libraries–especially small community libraries–have miniscule budgets. Most of the books on their shelves are donated. DONATED. Sure, it may be different at a big city library, but out in the vast “wasteland” of the red states (where I live!) are small towns by the score in communities populated by good people who aren’t even trying to keep up with the Jones. And even in a big city library, most of the budget goes to books on bestseller and awards listed dominated by traditionally published books (don’t get me started on that topic, since the barriers to entry onto the lists and into the contests are jealously guarded by those that profit from their impact).

Is it easier to get ebooks into libraries than print? Well, it should be, if for no other reason that patrons are clamoring for them and big pub thinks library ebooks are a threat to more lucrative print book sales.

But even getting your ebook into the libraries as a gift/free, something that would cost you nothing, is a challenge. Many libraries source their ebooks through Overdrive, who your “publisher” would need to work with directly for you to have a chance of participating in those sales. You can sign up with an aggregator, like BookBaby or Smashwords, to make you eligible for Baker & Taylor’s Axis360, 3M Cloud Library, Library Direct, or other library aggregators who distributes ebooks to some libraries.

But don ‘t think that “if you build it, they will come,” necessarily. I’ve had my books FREE to libraries on Smashwords for nearly two years, and to my knowledge none of my books have “sold” to a library. Heck, libraries and Oyster/Scribd (“all you can read” subscription services) are the only reason I’m even on Smashwords, but yet there are NO sales? Fishy, if you ask me. I know that eight of my books sold in November on Oyster because I BOUGHT THEM, but still no royalties in sight. Ahem. And my books do sell quite well-on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple, etc.–just not, apparently, on or through Smashwords. So, conceivably, a patron could ask for the ebook to my Saving Grace and a librarian could order it, because I’m on Smashwords. It’s just never happened. Anyway, I digress. Click to enlarge these photos of Smashwords’ take on libraries and pricing, and a screen shot of my participation in their various library aggregators. It’s interesting stuff.

I haven’t had any success just marching into a library and announcing I’d like to donate my ebook, either. They just don’t do ebooks onesie-twosie. This puts us right back to the aggregators (Overdrive, Axis360, 3M Cloud, Library Direct).

All of this suggests that it may be pretty dang hard to get your indie published book into libraries without a lot of effort. I can’t completely dispel that notion for you, unfortunately, but I can give you a few tips on how to make it as easy and affordable as possible.

Method 1: Aggregate FREE for ebooks.

Yeah, yeah, I know I just said it’s not working for me. I should have added YET. It’s not working for me yet. I’m not giving up on my “free to libraries” strategy on Smashwords, as they continue to add library aggregators like Axis360, 3M Cloud, and Library Direct. Maybe I just need to double-down with BookBaby now that they’ve waived their registration fee and are competing head to head with Smash. (If you hadn’t heard that bit of news, you’re welcome for the tidbit. It was announced last week.)

Honestly, I know what’s hurting me on Smash. I don’t aggregate to Amazon, B&N, or Apple, the three biggest online ebook retailers. Thus my Smash numbers suck. When they sell collections to library curators through the aggregators, it is often based on Smash-compiled sales. They don’t care that my book is a bestseller on Amazon if they’re not getting their cut. Yeah, well, I’m still not giving up 15% of my three biggest sources of indie publishing income. Not yet. I just don’t see how giving up that 15% will help me. <= If someone wants to convince me otherwise, please do. I never turn down the chance to get smarter.

Method 2: Ask your print readers to donate.

If you’re an author, indie or otherwise, you should have an email list that you administer through Mailchimp or Constant Contact. You should have a blog with subscribers. You should be using social media like Facebook, Goodreads, and Twitter for connections and communication. And you should consistently use all of them to encourage your readers to gift their books, once read, to libraries (or humans), unless they are very, very special to them as keepsakes. It’s the right thing for the environment and their favorite author, too.

Note: receipt of a donated book doesn’t guarantee it will end up on library shelves. Many libraries use donated books as inventory for Friends of the Library sales to generate money to buy other books. While this is not the optimal result you may have hoped for, a sale of your book still results in a book ending up with a human for reading. That’s better than a poke in the eye with a sharpened pencil.

Method 3: Donate print to libraries.

Here’s where the rubber meets the road. Donate your own copies of your books (and other authors’ books) to libraries. You can do this onesie-twosie, like when you’re in town for a book event and swing by the local library. Or you can do it on a grand scale, like my husband just did with my books.

Eric acquired a list of Texas and U.S. public libraries and ordered 1000 copies of Saving Grace and What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too? All told, our Ingram order was for 4500 books (for various purposes), so we got them for less than $3 apiece, including shipping. Then he spent evenings and weekends for a few weeks stuffing the two books and a letter in each package and mailing them to a hand-picked 1000-library list based on the communities where we thought I had the greatest visibility opportunities. He based the selection decision on where I had held book events or had contacts, as well as where I could conceivably support the libraries with speaking/teaching or sales events. He offered me as a FREE speaker in the letters, which went out with the packages in December of 2013.

Here’s the letter he included:

His goal was that the librarians read the books and recommend them to their patron. Librarian superfans and indie bookstore owner superfans are the two best possible kind to have, although superfans of any variety don’t suck. He hoped to stimulate sales of my other books with these two, and possibly orders by the libraries of the others as well.

KEY: this mail out wasn’t a business expense, it was a charitable deduction, which we can fully use on our taxes. That matters for us. We always look at a business expense as “1/3 off.” Well, a tax deduction is even better. How much? Hell, I don’t know. That’s what I pay my CPA the big bucks to figure out.

How did it work? Well, tax benefit aside, the results have been great so far. As of January 25th, the letters/emails/website comments from librarians are highly complementary of the books (Thank God). Some librarians immediately hand-placed the books with patrons they felt would enjoy them. Others contacted me to speak. Others put me in book club rotations (which resulted in immediate sales). Here’s my spring speaking schedule:

So let’s talk events for a moment:

Note that while I don’t get paid for these appearances, I sell my books and CONNECT WITH READERS (which sometimes helps in cultivating the superfans, again). Also note that I have not sought (nor will I seek) any bookstore appearances in 2014, as I experimented with stores in 2013, and I want to focus on libraries in 2014. As I mentioned earlier in this post, I am trying to figure out which events work best for me. In 2013, I wanted to see if great Nielsen BookScan numbers could get me mass distributed in chains (answer: nope — it’s a David and Goliath world, and I’m David, fighting alone and hampered by POD pricing). The events cost me far more than I ever made at them. Now I’m experimenting with direct sales at private event and public events, like at libraries.

Keep in mind, you don’t have to donate on the grand scale that we did. We’re just crazy that way. Do it simple and close to home and see what you can generate with your area libraries. Be sure to keep track of it for your taxes, too.

 

So, there you have it. Libraries. I love them. I want in them. I’m trying every which-a-way I can think of to get my books there.

How about you? Do you agree? Are your books in libraries? How are you getting them there?

Until next time,

Pamela

pamela author portraitPamela Fagan Hutchins writes overly long e-mails, hilarious nonfiction, and  series mysteries, like Katie & Annalise which includes the bestselling Saving Grace, and Emily which she kicks off with the 2015 WINNER of the USA Best Book Award for Cross Genre Fiction, Heaven to Betsy. She resides deep in the heart of Nowheresville, Texas and in the frozen north of Snowheresville, Wyoming. Pamela has a passion for great writing and smart authorpreneurship as well as long hikes with her hunky husband and pack of rescue dogs, traveling in the Bookmobile, and experimenting with her Keurig. She also leaps medium-tall buildings in a single bound (if she gets a good running start).

Kindle Unlimited and KENP: Worth the Cost?

This is a guest blog post written by Blake O’Connor, author of award-winning novels including ‘Unspoken Bond’, a former top100 Amazon Kindle book. She’s writing today about the decline in Amazon’s KENP royalty.


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Pamela, thank you for inviting me to write a guest post for SkipJack’s blog. And a big congratulations on Heaven to Betsy winning the USA Best Book Awards in Cross Genre! You’re an inspiration to many people, me included! ~ Blake

 

You’re welcome, Blake. I’m a major dog-person, so you’re my kind of people.

Note to readers: I sell my e-books across all markets and am not enrolled in KDP Select, which is why I so value Blake’s information and opinion on the Kindle Unlimited KENP payment program. Some of our authors, including myself, have done KDP Select with our first books, and we are considering it for an upcoming multi-author boxed set. Please weigh in with your thoughts in the comments.  ~ Pamela

Have you ever done a Limbo dance where you wondered how low the bar could go before you fell down? I’m betting the powers-that-be at Amazon are wondering the same about how far the new KENP royalty rate can fall before authors opt out and sign up with competitors like Kobo and Barnes & Noble. But how low can the rate go before authors decide to stand up and protest, tossing away that low bar?

First, a little explanation. Amazon introduced KENP (Kindle Edition Normalized Pages) in July 2015 to replace the old royalty rate of “one size fits all” for Kindle Unlimited royalties for authors enrolled in KDP Select. Select royalty had fallen from at least $2.25 to $1.34 per book under the old method. Authors were grumbling and leaving the Select program because of the low royalty rate. Amazon had to do something so they came up with KENP, a pay for page system, which rewards engaging books.

This is how KENP works: Amazon assigns a page count to books enrolled in the Select program, originally offering $.0057 (about half a cent) per KENP page read by Kindle Unlimited customers. Using Unspoken Bond, a 68,500 word novel as an example, I originally received $1.83 (322 KENP pages x $.0057) per entire book read.

Unfortunately the royalty rate for KENP has steadily fallen from $.0057 to $.0047 which equals a drop of almost 20%. Unspoken Bond now receives $1.51, which is a loss of 32 cents. I’m feeling the pain here. Still, it’s better than the old $1.34 Select royalty rate.

As far as authors go, I’m a feisty Chihuahua who hopes to be a big dog someday, well maybe not a Great Dane, although a Labrador would be okay. Sorry, I couldn’t resist that because I write dog books. Okay, so what do the big dogs do? A lot of them publish exclusively with Amazon! So if they’re okay with it then what’s with all the grumbling about KENP?

To find the answer I browsed the KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) community boards. Indie authors blame falling revenue on the Select program, and to rectify that the authors plan to diversity to Kobo, B&N, etc. I personally don’t think it will help. If the book doesn’t sell well on Amazon, it probably won’t sell well on other platforms probably because it’s not an engaging book. Since the authors are now getting paid for page instead of per download, their KENP revenue has obviously fallen. Those books are either (1) really short, thus less revenue, or (2) aren’t that engaging, thus less pages read equaling less revenue.

What about me? Your humble guest blogger. I have always published exclusively with Amazon, mainly because in the beginning I was too overwhelmed to try other platforms. As time went on, I was okay staying only with Amazon because they have the gorilla’s share of the eBook market – 74% according to Author Earnings. For the first six months of 2015, my revenue breakdown averaged 70/30 with 30% coming from Select royalty. Since the introduction of KENP in July 2015, my revenue breakdown has changed significantly to 54/46 with 46% coming from KENP.

Diversifying at this point in my publishing career would be a scary proposition because it is doubtful the other platforms could make up the 46% KENP accounts for in my total revenue, even if some of the Amazon KU/KOLL readers buy the books at full price. I’m still building a brand and readers, and Select helps with that.

Speculation on the web indicates the royalty rate for KENP could fall as low as $.0033 (a third of a cent) before authors start tapping out of the Select program. At that point I would only be making $1.06 per sale of Unspoken Bond as opposed to $2.09 on a straight sale outside of Kindle Unlimited at a $2.99 price. A dollar is a big difference, and I would probably jump ship at that point. Don’t get me wrong because I love Amazon, but it needs to be a mutually satisfying love affair.

Publishing exclusively with Amazon through their Select program has its advantages and disadvantages, a topic that could be covered in depth later. According to Author Earnings, the decision to use Select is  complicated one, and there is little consensus among Indie authors as to which strategy works the best.

The bottom line is if you are enrolled in Select, keep your eye on that bar, and if you find yourself about to fall down in the sand, stand up and try something different!

Blake

Blake O’Connor is an award-winning and Amazon top 100 author, combining romance with storiesDeane_author_photo about dogs. She’s won multiple awards in the Houston Writers Guild and the Houston Writers House novel contests.

Blake never met a dog or read a romance novel she didn’t like and that’s why she writes about both. She’s married and is the mother of two grown daughters. She’s also been a cheese cutter at Hickory Farms, sold wigs at Dillards department store, been a checker at a grocery store, a tour guide at the Texas state capitol, an election inspector, and had some other jobs before settling down.

Blake graduated from the University of Texas, majored in marketing and ended up working in the oil patch. By day she’s a database manager, by night an Indie author. She lives with her husband in one of the Houston burbs, sharing her household with a tiny Chiweenie and two large cats. An animal lover all her life, Blake is passionate about all of nature’s animals and the great outdoors – both major themes in her novels: Lost Pines, Miracle on Wolf Hollow Lane, and Unspoken Bond.

Promoting Nonfiction

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A timely re-blog about promotion. Fiction, Non-fiction…it’s a daily grind to keep up with promotions and to “out think the beast.”  Over here at SkipJack Publishing, we are in 24 hr trial and error, keep on thinking, brainstorming, researching mode.  It’s tedious and time consuming. It’s Necessary!! And it can be fun.  Be a fan of your fans/readers.  People watching is an enlightening past time at worst.

 

Nonfiction promotion requires slightly different strategy than fiction promotion, and, honestly, the fiction folks have it a little easier, especially for paid advertising of ebook price discounts. But there are things a nonfiction author can do that work far better than they do for fiction, so be not afraid. Here are some of my favorites.

Speak

Speaking at the events that your readers go to is a great way to promote your book. Think of support groups, organizational meetings, and conferences. I speak at monthly chapter meetings of Autism and ADHD groups to promote my book The Clark Kent Chronicles: A Mother’s Tale of Life With Her ADHD & Asperger’s Son. I speak on writing, publishing and promotion for writers groups, conferences, and workshops to promote What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too?

You can also host your own training programs and workshops and charge a fee, but I generally find that attendance is best at regular group events, and that I can sell enough books (fiction and my other nonfiction as well) to make my time more than worthwhile. Many groups will cover your expenses or even pay an honorarium.

Write

I’m a big believer in repurposing content. Adapted nonfiction book chapters make great guest blog posts or newspaper/magazine articles. Pitch yourself to write adapted or fresh content as well for publications that reach your targeted readers. I get $150 apiece for articles that appear in ADDitude Magazine, a publication for people with ADHD in their lives, all of them repurposed from The Clark Kent Chronicles. Even if you don’t get paid, you potentially reach new readers.

Also, write spin-off workbooks or short pieces that can be sold separately. See below about Website Sales for more.

Media

You have a much better shot at media interviews on nonfiction topics than does a fiction writer. Pitch yourself and your interesting interview topics to the media. Heck, send them a press release so good it can be copied and pasted into their publication as the story itself. Doesn’t everyone love it when you make their job easier? Also, pitch yourself as an expert on your topic and sign up as a potential interviewee on the publicity sites that let people register their interest in contact from the media.

I’ve had great success with media interviews on How to Screw Up Your Kids: Blended Families, Blendered Style, radio, print, TV, and online. I’ve also been interviewed many times for Hot Flashes and Half Ironmans: Middle-Aged Hormones Meet Endurance Athletics.

Website Sales/Subscriptions

By its very nature, much nonfiction lends itself to subscription-based blog posting, subscription newsletters, and even spin-off products. People love to get something for free, and a short ebook (chapter-length) can be sufficient enticement to get an interested potential reader to sign up for a monthly newsletter, if that ebook gives generously something of value to them.

Maybe you want to sell some of the products you recommend in your book. You can do this yourself, or you can create a page on your site that links to Amazon products for which you receive a cut, if you are signed up through Amazon Associates. Maybe you sell webinars or DVDs. Use your imagination to monetize your content and expertise at the time that you build your opt-in email list.

Leave Behinds

Decide whether you can fit leave-behind copies of your paperbacks into your budget. If you can, consider leaving them in the lobbies or waiting rooms of the types of establishments where your particular type readers are likely to have to wait. For instance, we leave my pet book Puppalicious and Beyond in veterinary offices and groomer lobbies. We leave How to Screw Up Your Marriage at counselor’s offices, and even found that the builder of our new home had received a copy from his therapist that we’d “left behind.”

Maybe you’d like to focus less on your readers and target humans in general. Airport gate seating is a great place to drop a book, as is the seat back pocket of an airline seat.

 

Most of all, have fun and intentionally develop contacts along the way. Each email given to you for your enewsletter list through one of these methods is a golden repeat contact for your future work. So now, how about you: what has worked for you in promoting your nonfiction?

Pamela

pamela author portraitPamela Fagan Hutchins writes overly long e-mails, hilarious nonfiction, and  series mysteries, like Katie & Annalise which includes the bestselling Saving Grace, and Emily which she kicks off with the 2015 WINNER of the USA Best Book Award for Cross Genre Fiction, Heaven to Betsy. She resides deep in the heart of Nowheresville, Texas and in the frozen north of Snowheresville, Wyoming. Pamela has a passion for great writing and smart authorpreneurship as well as long hikes with her hunky husband and pack of rescue dogs, traveling in the Bookmobile, and experimenting with her Keurig. She also leaps medium-tall buildings in a single bound (if she gets a good running start).

Gratefuls, From the SkipJack Perspective

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It’s that wonderful time of year when many of us pause and think about all that is good in our lives and the things we are grateful for. From the perspective of our publishing company (and no doubt straying a bit to the personal side), these are some things we are grateful for.

Our authors. They are all incredibly talented and, more importantly, are good people.

Our Staff. We have been blessed to find an enthusiastic, creative, and hard working group that wants to work with us to help build something really cool.

Our associates. We have talented people who affiliate with us on Editing and Graphics that consistently deliver awesome work.

AND

We live in a country and at a time when what we are doing is actually possible.

We live in a country that allows for creative freedom and protects our right to express it.

Our lives, livelihoods, and our rights are protected by millions of Americans who chose to serve in the military, and in public service roles in the Police, Fire and Emergency Services. Their pay does not come close to compensating for the work they do, the risks they take, and the sacrifices they make.

Teachers, who against long odds, low pay, and often very difficult circumstances, find ways to light a fire in us to learn, to grow, and to do better.

Families that support us, encourage us, and give us love and strength that allows us to pursue our dreams.

That’s our list. We hope yours is long and gratifying as well.

Eric

Online Promos: What’s Working Now

Happy Thanksgiving!  We thought now might be a good time to re-visit  Online Promos:  What’s Working Now.   The holiday season is upon us and Books are a favorite gift.  The following information was gathered following the release of “Going for Kona” one year ago, around Thanksgiving 2014.  It’s still relevant and working. Some of the prices and subscribership have gone up, but the impact of these sites remains the same.

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I’ve had the occasion to re-utilize a great number of the online book promo sites, especially those promoting free books, in the last four months since I made the first book in my Katie & Annalise mystery series, Saving Grace, perma-free. We’ve been able to see the real time impact on free downloads each service made, especially on Kindle during the downloading of 200,000 copies of the novel (update: now 750,000).

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So, what’s worked on Kindle (60% of ebook market) for my free mystery?

1. Bookbub: June 27; $320; 1,580,000 mystery subscribers (not all Kindle; see below)

2. Kindle Nation Daily’s Kindle Daily Deal: August 29 (BookGorilla added on free); $99; 158,500 non-genre-specified subscribers (update: I have had success with nearly every package KND offers; to see it in action, check out SkipJack Publishing’s author Ken Oder as he promotes his Old Wounds to the Heart on KND while discounted to 99 cents and his The Closing  as KND Thriller of the Day, HERE)

3. ereadernewstoday: July 19 (positively impacted by ongoing Bookbub success); $25; undisclosed subscriber list size (not all Kindle; see below)

4. Book Sends: July 25; $75; 34,000 mystery subscribers (update: book Book Sends through ereaderIQ)

5. OHFB: August 8; $75; 26,000 non-genre-specified subscribers

6. FreeBooksy, not shown; $100; 60,000 non-genre-specified subscribers (or Bargain Booksy for discounted books)

Who do I use to promote my books elsewhere (38+% of ebook market)?

1. Bookbub: see above; Nook, iBooks, Kobo, Google Play, and Smashwords = 38+% + Kindle

2. ereadernewstoday: see above; Nook, iBooks, Google Play, and Kobo = 37+% + Kindle

3. Story Finds: $15 donation; 160,000 page “visitors,” but no email; Nook, iBooks, Kobo, with = 36+% + Kindle

4. Fussy Librarian:$14; 36101 subscribers; Nook, iBooks, Kobo, Smashwords =36+% + Kindle

5. ebooksoda: $10; no numbers given; Nook, iBooks, Kobo, Smashwords (includes UK Kindle & Nook links); 36+% + Kindle

Note that each promotional vendor also reaches readers through social media and their website. I mention subscriber list because it is the most powerful. I find that even Kindle-only promos positively impact my downloads on other sites.

The sites have minimum time periods until you can submit a book again, and some for how often an author can be featured. Bookbub, for instance, will run a book a maximum of every six months, and an author only every two months.

I have tried a number of additional sites, free and paid, during this time period but the ones listed above were the most effective. Other sites I would continue to use without a doubt: Pixel of Ink (update: book Pixel of Ink through ereaderIQ)., Bargain ebook Hunter, FK Books and Tips, Bookpraiser (multi-promo site aggregator), and Book Marketing Tools (ditto). There are a number of sites that I couldn’t see an impact from, but most of those are free so I would continue to use them simply because they don’t hurt.

I advertised each Friday from July 19 through the present, to keep my rankings up. I’ve found that once you let rankings fall and your book loses visibility, it’s much harder to get it back up again. I find that the amount of paid books I’m selling to people who read my first-in-series-free mystery more than offsets the cost of the promotions. Much more. However, this type of advertising did not pay off for me before I had the entire series out and took the series lead perma-free. That being said, I still think the sites in the first list above are the most effective.

Generally, I try to do a high impact promo once every three to four weeks, and I use the lower impact promos on the weeks between. It seems to work for me, although I wouldn’t discount all the previous marketing and promotion that has gone into positioning the book for success prior to the summer of 2014.

If you want to see how I did financially during these last few months with all this free download promo, read How Bookbub and Permafree Changed My Life Last Week.

I hope this is helpful to you. If you’ve had great success with other services, please let us all know in the comments.

Pamela

pamela author portraitPamela Fagan Hutchins writes overly long e-mails, hilarious nonfiction, and  series mysteries, like Katie & Annalise which includes the bestselling Saving Grace, and Emily which she kicks off with the 2015 WINNER of the USA Best Book Award for Cross Genre Fiction, Heaven to Betsy. She resides deep in the heart of Nowheresville, Texas and in the frozen north of Snowheresville, Wyoming. Pamela has a passion for great writing and smart authorpreneurship as well as long hikes with her hunky husband and pack of rescue dogs, traveling in the Bookmobile, and experimenting with her Keurig. She also leaps medium-tall buildings in a single bound (if she gets a good running start).

 

Revise or Die Trying: Tips and Techniques

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Revising Your Drafts

As Presented at Comicpalooza 2014, Houston, Texas

Thoughts from Moderator Author Pamela Fagan Hutchins

 

Draft v. Rewrite v. Revision v. Editing (Pamela’s working definitions)

Draft: Your original work from once upon a time to the end.

Rewrite: Your first draft was so bad that you have to redo major elements of the manuscript.

Revision: Taking a draft and improving it with respect to craft: characters, plot, themes, structure, scenes, tension, point of view, consistenct,

Editing: Perfecting a manuscript, i.e., per the Chicago Manual of Style.

 

Generally, On Revision:

Set deadlines and goals (word count, chapters, pages).

Eliminate or minimize disruptions and distractions.

Start with a completed manuscript on page one and move forward until the end, making notes as you go.

Consider:

  • Does this character appear all the way through the book, or disappear with an explanation?
  • Does this character still look and act the way he did at the beginning of the book? If not, have I shown the character development that accounts for the changes?
  • If this scene introduces a new idea or new action, is it something that I remembered to follow through all the way to the end? If you add subplots, introduce new characters, throw in red herrings or real herrings that you intend to make use of at the end of the story, you have to make sure that you pick up on them by the end of the book.
  • Have you met the objectives of your story? Did you resolve your theme and your major and minor character conflicts (excluding those thrown in to give some meat to the next book in a series, if relevant), bring your plot to a logical conclusion, and give the reader something to cheer about at the end?
  • Have you followed your header, chapter, and quote scheme consistently?
  • Does this scene matter? Does it move the story forward, develop a character, flesh out the plot, and create the forward momentum that will keep your reader reading?
  • Have you demonstrated an acceptable level of literacy?

Make changes and additions.

After all changes are made, re-read manuscript to see if your changes worked.

 

Revision Styles: 

Close-in or as-you-go revision: revising yesterday’s work before beginning new writing each day. Note: can cause you to never finish your manuscript.

On-screen revision: revising on your computer screen.

Hand-revision: printing your manuscript and revising in margins and on extra pages.

Real aloud: revising by reading your work aloud. Reveals your manuscript in new ways.

Read backwards: Moving from last chapter to first, reveals your manuscript in new ways.

Critique circle or partner: Using feedback from peers who are better writers than you.

Targeted revision: highlighting or circling all instances of stylistic, word use, or grammatical issues you tend toward, like passive voice or overuse of a word.

Manuscript consult: hiring a story consultant to provide revision suggestions for your manuscript.

 

Advanced Revision Methods:

Spreadsheet Plotting: Create a spreadsheet for your manuscript with different columns for elements of the story you want to track.  Elements to consider:

  • Act. This helps track the act to which this scene belongs.
  • Chapter/scenes.
  • Headlines. This isn’t a summary of the scene’s events, but headlines of main events of the scene with emphasis on how it affects the main character(s).
  • Time. Time of year, time of day.
  • POV or Characters present to ensure each character has proper amount of exposure. (Use different colored fonts for different characters)
  • Setting, to track movement.
  • Action. Similar to Headlines, but with a different function. The Headlines puts the event in context of the main character, while the Action can be more specific or give a context.
  • Pulse to highlight emotional tension driving scene.
  • Words count per chapter or scene.

Spreadsheet plotting allows you to check the actual content of scenes/chapters, to scan a column of plot points and see if the narrative arc builds over the course of these actions, or scan the column of emotional points and see how the emotional arc builds. Try sorting columns: as long as you use consistent terminology, you can check, for example, how many times you place scenes in a haunted house.

Shrunken Manuscript: Printing out a shrunken manuscript to visually see how elements of your manuscript flow. Great for seeing proportions in a story, or multiple elements at once (by using different color pens, highlighters, or sticky notes).

Instructions: Take out the chapter breaks. Single space the entire manuscript. Reduce the font and margins. Use columns if it helps. Mark whatever elements you plan to evaluate (i.e., five best chapters, places where two characters interact, the percentage of dialogue, places where you repeat a certain setting, places where the theme is made obvious, etc.).  Lay out the pages on the floor in rows of ten. (Adjust layout to your page count, of course.) Stand back and evaluate.

Consider (using strongest chapter evaluation as an example:

  • Are there large gaps between chapters marked on the Shrunken Mss?
  •  Are the strongest chapters spread out or do you have the dreaded Sagging Middle?
  •  How long are the strongest chapters? Do they include the Obligatory Scene?
  •  Are there several weak chapters in a row?
  •  What does this visualization tell you about the revisions needed

One Pass Manuscript Revision: (very advanced) From Holly Lisle, “One Pass Manuscript Revision”: the following is excerpted from her excellent guidance on the subject. To read her whole article (and you should), visit the link in the Revision Resources Section of this document).

THE PROCESS, PART ONE — DISCOVERY

Write down your theme in fifteen words or less.

If you have sub-themes and know what they are, write them 
down too.

Write down what the book is about in twenty-five words or 
less.

Write down a one-line story arc for the book’s main
 character.

Write down the main characters, and a paragraph of no more
  than about 250 words describing the story, sort of like the blurb 
on the back of a paperback.

 

THE PROCESS – PART TWO: THE MANUSCRIPT SLOG

Scene check:  A scene is a cohesive block without which the novel will not stand, 
encompassing everything that a novel has to have, but in miniature.
 A scene has a start and a finish, characters and dialogue, engages 
at least one and sometimes all five senses, and offers conflict 
and change. It takes place in one time and in one place. If the 
time or the place changes, you’re in a new scene. A scene is 
usually written from only one point of view.

Run through your novel scene by scene and
 ask yourself the following questions:

  • Does this scene belong in the book? That is, 
does it address your theme or one of your sub-themes, contain 
action, conflict, and change, develop one or more of your characters,
and move your story forward?
 
If not, draw a big X through it.
  • Is the scene a story in miniature? Does it contain characters,
conflict, action, change, dialogue, setting, and involvement of
the reader’s senses? Does it have a beginning, a point where
things change, and a clear ending? Is it interesting and entertaining? 
Does it move the story forward? Start writing in changes in the margins. Carry 
them around to the back of the page, and onto additional pages 
if necessary.
  • What is the conflict of the scene? Whatever the conflict 
in the scene, make sure you develop it well. Weed out things that 
don’t relate to it, or that weaken its impact. End the scene 
at the point where the conflict is either made worse, or resolved
in some fashion. Cut any material that goes on after this point
— save it to insert in a later if it’s truly important.
  • Does the scene contain elements that no longer fit the story?
Do you have characters
and story lines at the beginning that just flat vanish by the
 end – and things at the end that you promised you’d
make fit in the beginning?
  • Go over to your spiral-bound notebook, and write in details 
about threads you’ve killed.
  • Make notes to yourself about new directions you took.
  • Make notes about characters you’ve condensed or eliminated.
  • Offer yourself suggestions about the evolution of your story
and theme. It’s entirely possible to discover at the
 end of the book that it isn’t about what you thought it was 
about when you started it. So when you realize this, give yourself 
a couple of notes to remind you of what your early scenes are
 going to need.
  • Is the scene well-written?
  • Does the scene fit logically in time and space?
  • Is your scene full of weak words?
  • Is the word-count right? Currently, the most salable 
length for non-series genre novels for adults is between 90,000
 and 120,000 words.

 

THE PROCESS – PART THREE: TYPE-IN

Start with the first page that bears your scribbles, start with 
the first line of corrections, open up your document, and start
 typing. You aren’t going to look at the clean pages again —
if you’d like to make a bit of space on your desk, you can
 throw them away.

As you type in your corrections, you may have improved wording 
ideas. Go with them. You may think of wittier, more perfect dialogue.
 Swap it out. You may finally hit the perfect description of the 
character, the locale, or some other goodie. Terrific. Use it.

You will probably also have completely new plot ideas, have great
 ideas for new characters who could really shine, and complications 
that could just change everything. Don’t indulge yourself by
 putting them in this book. Write them down on a separate piece of
 paper and save them for the next book. The point of a novel revision 
is to finish this book.

Why? Because the definition of a writing career is: Write a 
book. Write another book. Write another book.

Nowhere in that description is included: Take one story and make 
it a monument to every idea you ever had or ever will.

Revision Materials:

Spiral Notebooks, Legal Pads, Colored Highlighters, Colored Pens, Pencils, Colored Sticky Notes, Scotch Tape, Paper Clips, Printer Paper

 

Revision Resources:

James Scott Bell, Write Great Fiction: Revision and Self Editing, http://www.writersdigestshop.com/write-great-fiction-revision-and-self-editing-ebook?lid=wdbkpclp071713-wgf-revisionandselfediting

Mike Nappa, “How to Edit Your Book in Four Steps,” http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/there-are-no-rules/how-to-edit-your-book-in-4-steps

Holly Lisle, “How to Revise a Novel,” http://hollylisle.com/how-to-revise-a-novel/

Darci Pattison (Author of Novel Metamorphosis), “Spreadsheet Plotting,” http://www.darcypattison.com/revision/spreadsheet-plotting/

Darci Pattison, “Shrunken Manuscript,” http://www.darcypattison.com/revision/shrunken-manuscript/

Rebecca Aberto, “The Three Act Structure: Save Your Story,” http://rebeccaberto.com/2011/11/15/the-three-act-structure-save-your-story/

Holly Lisle, “One Pass Manuscript Revision,”

http://hollylisle.com/one-pass-manuscript-revision-from-first-draft-to-last-in-one-cycle/

Chuck Wendig, “25 Steps to Eliminate the Unmerciful Suck From Your Story,” http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2013/09/10/25-steps-to-edit-the-unmerciful-suck-out-of-your-story/

 

Pamela Fagan Hutchins: Writer of overly long e-mails, romantic mysteries, and (possibly) hilarious nonfiction. Resides deep in the heart of Nowheresville, TX and way up in the frozen north of Snowheresville, WY. Passionate about great writing and smart authorpreneurship as well as long hikes with her hunky husband and pack of rescue dogs, her Keurig, and traveling in the Bookmobile.