Sibylla Nash

Taking it Back to Basics

Today I decided to go back to basics. I've been trying a variety of apps for index cards on my phone and tablet and...I like them. I like the accessibility of having my works-in-progress go wherever I go. The idea of mobility makes me feel like I'm working or at least have the potential to work anywhere, anytime the muse strikes.  The muse has been ever so gracious and I have a ton of ideas  I've started, unfortunately, I haven't finished anything. I know what's missing and rather than continuing to scour Craig's List and the office supply stores for sales, I decided to just "go big or go home." Literally. I bought a gigantic cork board so I could adapt my novel, Bumped, into a feature film.  As much as I like Scrivener, Storymill and Storyist, It's something about being able to physically move the index cards around and to see all of the cards at once that keeps me on track and focused. Most projects go through multiple revisions (unless...you're just that good) and taking it back to the basics gives me the foundation and I can incorporate it with the apps after my first go around. So yaay me! I #amwriting. 

Bumped Free This Weekend

Christmas comes early or rather in anticipation of summer, here's a free beach read.  Bumped is free this weekend cause, why not? Enjoy!

Judging a Book By Its Cover

I'm trying something different. I haven't figured out how to crack the international market (well, I haven't exactly cracked the US market either but I'm working on it). I had two covers created for Bumped so I decided to try out the second cover to see how it does with international sales. Can't hurt at this point. What do you think of this cover?

KDP Select Promo Results

It's been one week since my free promo for Bumped has ended on KDP. I wish I could report it blasted my sales through the roof but sadly no. I didn't get the sales I'd hoped for but the increased exposure is as they say...priceless. For the weekend that it was free, it was downloaded 2,417 times. I was actually quite happy with those numbers until I heard about another book that was downloaded 65,000 times during its free promo. I tried to console myself that they listed their book for 5 days as opposed to my three but an additional two days wouldn't have gotten me too much closer to 65k downloads, which is fine (that's what I tell myself at night).

Over the course of the week, I've had about 10 downloads and 6 borrows. Not bad for a book that's almost two years old but not exactly anything to brag about either. Kind of wondering why I'm writing this post. The upside of doing the promotion and getting the downloads, I'm getting more reviews. Can't remember where, but I read that marketing is a process, not an event. With that in mind, I'm so happy for the 5-star reviews.  It can only help. You can check them out below. As a writer, we want our work to be read and to that end, the free weekend served its purpose. Have you tried the KDP Select program? What has your experience been like so far? Let me know in the comments.

5.0 out of 5 stars Good story of a woman finding herself, March 6, 2013 By  Avtanner - See all my reviews   This review is from: Bumped (Kindle Edition) This isn't my usual book and I almost didnt read it but after a few pages I was hooked into the story. Girl leaves small town, sister died tragically young, at the top of her game doing PR in the hip hop scene finds love with Prince Charming- and lives happily ever after? Not! Things are not as they seem and through a lot of soul searching, trials and tribulations- betrayal and deceit- she finds out who she is and what is truly the most important thing in life! I recommend if you are looking for a feel good read that is rather uplifting. 5.0 out of 5 stars Good Read March 10, 2013 By Tynecia Williams Format:Kindle Edition This book had me wanting to keep reading and not put it down. Good work by the author! Can't wait to read more of her books.

 

Authorgraph Adds Widget for Amazon Detail Pages

I lvoe Authorgraph. It gives you the ability to sign an ebook and I'm so ready to get my e-sign on. You just sign into your account click "author tools." They have code for non-Wordpress sites and Wordpress sites. You'll be using the non-Wordpress code for Amazon. You just log into KDP and drop it into your detail page. Voila!

I've added the widget to my Amazon detail page for Baby Modeling & Beyond. I'll be adding it to Bumped shortly. What do you think? Do you care to have your ebooks signed or once you read an ebook, you aren't likely to go back to it?

 

 

Hitting Word Counts? There's an App for That

No matter how much I wish it were true, the hours I spend on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, help me none whatsoever in the actual writing of the next book. The only thing that gets the work done is sitting down and doing it.

I attended James Scott Bell's workshop on creating a career with ebooks and he mentioned that he has weekly quotas and tracks them in a spreadsheet. Too lazy to spend an hour or so to create my own spreadsheet, I found a cool app called Write Chain. It's for the iPhone and it's free. 

About Write Chain

WriteChain stores word counts for each writing session and tracks the total words written across all sessions. Yet, if you’re serious about writing, you know that dedicated practice is the only way to improve and succeed. WriteChain takes the session tracking a step further by counting consecutive daily sessions to measure your “writing chain”. If you skip a session, you break the chain and WriteChain lets you know about it.

 

Bumped's #Free this Weekend on Amazon #Kindle

I've decided to try Amazon's KDP Select program. Sales have slowed up since its release in 2011, no surprise there, so I'm trying new things.  For the next 90 days, Bumped will be sold exclusively on Amazon and to jumpstart it, it will be free this weekend (March 1 - 3). So we'll see. I've been reading different posts about experiences with the KDP Select program and some people have had some success with it.

I should have some more marketing tips and tricks this weekend to add to my arsenal. I'm going to the Writer Store for James Scott Bell's ebooks' workshop. 

ChaBooCha 2013 Starts March 1st

Ok, how cute is the name, ChaBooCha? It's the Chapter Book Challege, it starts tomorrow and runs through the month of March.  What exactly is the Chapter Book Challenge you might ask?  Just a way to get your butt in gear and finish that chapter book that's been percolating. It's a challenge for you to write the first draft (from start to finish) of an early reader, HiLo book, chapter book, middle grade book or even a YA book. I'm going to try, I have a series I've putzing around with for the last few years. Might as well hammer out the draft. Are you in? Go here to sign up. Not that writing itself isn't its own reward but..there are prizes too!

Revised Edition of Baby Modeling & Beyond Now Available!

It seemed as thought every time I would work on updating Baby Modeling & Beyond, something else would change. Modeling agencies would close, new technologies would pop up. Finally though, the new edition is now available on the Kindle and Nook and soon on Kobo and iTunes (for some reason they are taking more than 48 hours to go live). I love the fluidity ebooks provides because as changes happen, I can continue to include them and get the book back out to market. 

Sunday Inspiration

I love this quote, it reminds that all things are possible!