witter (ˈwɪtə)
vb – (often foll by: on) to chatter or babble pointlessly or at unnecessary length
n – pointless chat; chatterCOLLINS ENGLISH DICTIONARY – COMPLETE AND UNABRIDGED, 12TH EDITION 2014 © HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
Pardon me as I scramble about like a headless chicken while putting together Silver Hollow 2018’s release. Seriously, it’s been “a madhouse,” between researching, piecing together my own book trailer, registering my ISBN plus uploading the pre-order across my channels & Goodreads. I call that a productive weekend following an absolutely mad dash writing week.
I made this goal of finishing Part 5 of Silver Hollow rewrites by the end of next week. In an ideal world, I would have already been finished and packaging this wholesale to my editor half a month ago. But as you saw in my recent post on procrastination time-blocking, it’s much easier to plan out your book, quite another in the face of real life.
Belle Malory shares a fantastic post about the priorities in our lives coupled with the ever-present writer’s guilt. You should check it out here!
Fact of the matter is, I’ve spent March really digging into a set routine. I map out my hours and days with not much wiggle room (for a free spirit such as myself.) It has done wonders for productivity. More on that here. In fact, I decided it was high time to take this re-launch of Silver Hollow and the brand-spanking-new Borderlands Saga to the next level.
How do I do this? Well…that’s a great question.
Last year, I published my first contemporary romance, right alongside my third Heaven’s Edge novella. I love both of those books and their main characters. I hadn’t the faintest clue how to properly market either one of them. What I took away from that experience, however, was what not to do during a new release. To give myself a little leeway, my family was going through a hellish month, between my parents’ health issues and my husband’s car accident (by God’s grace everybody’s okay.) So by the time I published Tamn and She Walks in Moonlight, I was just grateful to be able to do anything writing-wise. Of course, because we artists are self-proclaimed masochists, I beat myself up about all the opportunities I missed out on, like capitalizing on the new releases, building up my brand new Newsletter, etc.
Be kind and rewind a couple months before then.
I was writing Bound Beauty (Wylder Tales #3) for publication in December. About five chapters in, I realized what I was really writing was an extended ending for Scarred Beauty. So what did I do? I decided to re-release it. I was in the process of recovering older books and the Heaven’s Edge Series with Najla Qamber Designs. So I figured, why not take some tips I’d been reading up on about marketing? You see, I didn’t get serious about marketing and studying trends, aka treating this like a business, until late 2016.
I’d been hitting up blogs like Jane Friedman and Joanna Penn for information. One thing I noticed was the interest in all the small company newsletter lists like EReader News Today. I also went to Kindle Boards and found out they feature a free books thing for their authors if you sign up. They have a pretty amazing spreadsheet where other authors share what companies they’ve used to plug in their book deals, including BookBub, with the results included.
So I tried a handful out at once the same weekend I switched Craving Beauty’s cover, and put it up for permafree everywhere. Add the newly revamped Scarred Beauty to the mix and I was able to push the series back into the world for fresh eyes to discover. I saw some pretty surprising results from this experiment. I learned a heck of a lot about what you definitely wanna do. In hindsight, I see that I was attempting a medium-level relaunch of the series.
See what I mean by I had no clue? I didn’t know there were levels or names for these things. Not until this year, with my recent round of research did I begin to grasp what goes into a full-throttle relaunch. To help you get a better idea, I’ll describe what I did just this weekend.
Assigned an ISBN to my eBook
You’ll hear different things through the grapevine in the Indie world. But fact of the matter is, you’re bound to get better legitimate recognition through purchasing an ISBN for your book, while also registering your book and company (aka. publishing name) with the system. I’ve always used ASIN & free ISBN through Smashwords in the past, but this time I chose to go an extra leg. Because of one main thing. I’m in this for the long haul, and someday I want to look on my backlist with pride. So if I’m going to all the trouble to rewrite, rebrand and re-release Silver Hollow, I’d rather go all-in or none.
This is a personal preference. You don’t need to purchase one to publish on Amazon. But there is a stigma around self-publishing that persists today. Fact is, this is a competitive market. You are looking for recognition among the higher echelons of the traditionally published and famous. Don’t believe me? Look in your book’s category on Amazon or anywhere for that matter and see what the top-ten paid books are. The “lucky ones” as I call those Indie’s who broke through, are on there occasionally. But once you start really looking at the facts, like Spock, you become willing to do whatever it takes to produce a professional product.
Created a book trailer
I could write a whole post on this point alone. I probably will on We Write Fantasy sometime next month. This is the fourth book trailer I’ve made using Animoto, but this time I really went all-out and tried to bring this one to a better level. I love Animoto because they have ready-made templates for you. Also you can have a free account with them. The platform is really more for amateur users at that level, but if you have the will, you’ll find the way like me. Each subsequent trailer I’ve made for my full-length novels, I’ve stepped things up a notch creatively.
This time I purchased a one-month long professional plan (you can unsubscribe for a renewal any time). I picked a theme that happened to fit the world of Silver Hollow perfectly, then threw in some of the awesome stock I’ve been collecting recently for mostly blogging purposes. See Deposit Photos. I hopped over to Envato market, where you can purchase stock, or in this case, a one-time use of music. I’ve used Envato before and love all they have to offer, so definitely go with them if you can. The last resource I needed for this was time, of which mine is limited. Again, see my online intervention post about that. But today happens to be my off day from work, aka marketing/blogging/writing day. 🙂 I made it happen and here is the result: Silver Hollow 2018 Edition Trailer
Set up pre-order across channels
The steps I took today bled into each other really. After I finished my book trailer, I thought why wait? I wanted to showcase the trailer with a note at the end about the pre-order. Since I had unpublished the previous version of Silver Hollow and assigned a new ISBN to this edition, I decided to go ahead and publish the pre-order. While it’s still processing to other retailers, you can find the AMAZON and SMASHWORDS links here. It felt really good to have this all come together. Not only did it give me an official past the point of no return deadline, but reminded me why I love this part of publishing.
Side note- I also uploaded the book to Goodreads, because I reasoned, if I was posting it Amazon and Smashwords (aka everyone else) then I needed to add it to Goodreads. I realize some people outright hate Goodreads, but I love it. I’ve used it as a reader and an author since the beginning, when I was reaching out to fellow Indies for advice. So I love to give a little love back to them today. 🙂
All this and I could sit back and breathe…until I thought about those last few chapters of part five I need to finish this week. So after I leave you, I’m off to pour my heart and soul into finishing this rewrite of my first novel. Silver Hollow has always been my closest book baby, next to Qeya. Today I’m excited to bring the fully-realized version. I like to think of it as Silver Hollow 2.0. Like Amie, I’ve grown and matured (past her age in the book lol) and I’ve loved every second I could dive back into her world. Can’t wait to share more with y’all!
If you’re a book blogger or reader, long time fan of Silver Hollow or new addition to the family and would love to read an ARC copy, check out THIS LINK or PM me. While I don’t require a review in exchange, it would help so much if you could provide some feedback for me prior to the May 31st release. Looking forward to chatting books with you 🙂
See y’all tomorrow! I’m off to write, write, write…
“I shouldn’t have to tell you this isn’t a fairy story…”
After her parents’ car crash ten years before, Amie Wentworth has trusted the books she writes more than people. A believer in reality verses fiction, she ignores the unexplained mysteries surrounding her life. Never mind her dreams of a past life, or the fact she can fry technology with a touch. Not even a timely invitation from her long-lost uncle in England gives Amie incentive for anything other than ire.
Until she is stabbed in an alley and brought back to life by a handsome stranger. Soon Amie is dragged into the very sort of tale she is used to selling. To make matters worse, the man who saved her life keeps turning up and her would-be-murderer is still at large.
After crossing the Atlantic to her father’s homeland, she discovers a world beyond imagining. Silver Hollow is a place of ancient traditions and supernatural dangers, where everything is the opposite of what it seems and few escape sane. Faced with an impossible choice, Amie is forced to confront a deadly family legacy while remembering a life she soon wishes to forget.
**Previously published in 2012. This NEW EDITION has been FULLY REVISED AND EXPANDED. The original novel is now no longer available.**
Contemporary Fantasy – Due to Release May 31st, 2018
Available for Pre-order at the following links:
AMAZON | IBOOKS | BARNES&NOBLE | KOBO | SMASHWORDS
Add Silver Hollow to your Goodreads
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Jennifer Silverwood 