More Indie Publishing Tips

Some great tips from Don!

Unknown's avatarDon Massenzio's Author Site

TandEFor me, indie publishing has consisted of a lot of trial-and-error to determine what things work and what things do not. Unlike other types of sales and marketing, as an author it is not only about selling books, but, to some degree, you are selling yourself. This is something I’m extremely uncomfortable with, but I’ve found some ways to adjust my approach to make it more tolerable.

This list consists of some of the things I’ve tried that have worked for me. Your mileage may vary.

Hard sell concept.

  • Blatantly asking people to buy your books doesn’t work. Instead, I’ve tried to use my blog, Facebook, and other social media to try to convince people that my work might be worth checking out. I do this by trying to entertain or teach with the material I post.

wordofmouth

  • Word of mouth is extremely important. Your existing readers are your best salespeople. I like interacting with them…

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I Need Your Social Media Support

June is here!

That means we are ONE month away from the release of Renaissance: The Nora White Story Book One and I need your social media support.

My Thunderclap Campaign is LIVE now!

Thunderclap is like crowdfunding for social media. Instead of raising funds you are raising support. Neat huh? Here’s how it works:

You set up a campaign and set a social reach goal. Once the campaign is approved and goes live, supporters can pledge an action (a Facebook Post, Tweet, both, etc.) of the campaigns message as set by the host. This message will go live on the day the host sets. This means that if an author has a book coming out for instance (yours truly), the message will go out on the day of release from the social media accounts of everyone who pledged at the same time, making a thunderous noise of support!

The Kicker: Of course, there’s always something. For the free option, for the messages to go out, the host (yours truly) must reach her social reach by the date set. For this, I have set this campaign up a month in advance to give me time to build support.

I need at least 100 people to “donate” a pledge towards my message on their social media by July 15th. It’s free, of course, as you’re only donating a social media blast. There are 1,756 people subscribed to his blog as I write this. I am only asking for 100 of you to support me. Are you in?? Let’s do this!

About the Book:

When seventeen-year-old Nora White successfully graduates High School in 1922 Mississippi and is College bound, everyone is overjoyed and excited. Everyone except Nora. She dreams of Harlem, Cotton Clubs, Fancy Dresses, and Langston Hughes. For years, she’s sat under Mr. Oak, the big oak tree on the plush green grass of her families five acres, and daydreamed of The Black Mecca.

The ambitious, young Nora is fascinated by the prospect of being a famous writer in The Harlem Renaissance and decides she doesn’t want to go to College. Despite her parent’s staunch protest, Nora finds herself in Jacobsville, New York, a small town forty-five minutes outside of Harlem.

Shocked by their daughter’s disappearance, Gideon and Molly White are plagued with visions of the deadly south, like the brutal lynching of Gideon’s sister years ago. As the couple embark on a frightening and gut wrenching search for Nora, they are each stalked by their own traumatic past. Meanwhile, Nora learns that the North is not all it’s cracked up to be.

Can Gideon and Molly overcome their disturbing past in time to find their daughter before it’s too late? 

“When I finished reading Renaissance: The Nora White Story I actually shouted. I loved, loved this book. From beginning to end. The characters are still alive inside my mind. The setting as well. I could smell the hot soup the girls had or the rain on the hot earth. The dialogue is superb; I can still hear the soft southern accent in my mind.”

– Adele Marie Park

“The author’s writing is beautiful. She captivates the dialect of the southern speak wonderfully and I found the description of each and every action and location to just roll off my tongue as I read.” – Rachel Poli

“I consider myself and anyone else aware of her to be pretty lucky already as this author has a pretty powerful perspective and is more than capable of articulating her experiences and thought processes as it relates to the cultural upbringing of the African American experience. Her name is Yecheilyah Ysrayl.  – Dottie Daniels

CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT

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p.s. To be the first to receive such exciting news be sure to sign-up for my email list! Click here.

Building Relationships

True relationships are not scheduled, planned, and coordinated. True relationships are natural occurrences and are not forced. They blossom from a genuine pull towards that person. It is a connection of energy built upon similar states of mind. It is when two people share the same opinion without an agenda. Building relationships is not a strategy we can put into our pockets and hope will guarantee us some kind of success. Relationships instead are bonds that formed either from tragedy or triumph. Relationships in whatever form that they come rather a man to woman, a business partnership or author to reader, are built upon the vibration of similar frequencies. Humble people do not talk about their own humility just as generous people do not think they are very generous. That is because it is an innate natural characteristic that is real. Real relationships are just the same. They do not consciously seek out the other rather they are connected organically through similar thought processes and experiences. It is when two or more people are drawn to work together because they sense a connection. It is when you don’t have to convince that person that you’re genuine because their energy feels yours. It is not sitting at the cool kid’s table in hopes of being liked but rather letting the silent pull of another’s heart find yours.

#BLOGGER INTERVIEW – Christopher Graham, The Story Reading Ape

Reblogging in support of Chris Graham for his unwavering support of Indie Authors! Y’all know he’ll reblog you in a minute! So show him the same. Happy Anniversary Mr. Ape!

Tina Frisco's avatarTINA FRISCO

The Story Reading ApeChris Grahamis much admired, respected, and appreciated in the blogging world. His indefatigable support of authors and bloggers is rivaled by few others.The Story Reading Ape‘s 4th blog anniversary is April 4th, and I can think of no better way to show my appreciation than by featuring him on my blog. Here’s to you, Mr. Ape! May you live long and prosper. I’m also putting energy out there for you to win the lottery 😊

Follow Chris’ blog HERE 

When did you start blogging and what prompted you to do so?  

I started blogging on April 4th 2013 after reading authors’ pleas (on Goodreads) for promotional opportunities on blogs. 

What moved you to choose an ape as your gravatar and online presence? 

My Most favourite author was (and still is) Terry Pratchett, who once stated, “The anthropologists got it wrong…

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Top Commenters!

Drummm rollll

First, let me say that I am excited about today’s stats. Ya’ll got the views jumping which gets me pumped, YES. #Winning.

Anyway, as I logged into my dashboard to take a look-see, I noticed something interesting. I have some top commenters! It was right on point too and I could have determined these names myself. These people are very supportive of The PBS Blog and there are so many more names to add here but these guys, according to my WordPress stats, comment the most and I want to take a moment to esteem them! I appreciate you:

Tess from How a Cookie Crumbles Blog! Whoo Hoo!

Adele from Firefly465 Blog! Whoo Hoo!

Don from Don Massenzio Blog! Whoo Hoo!

Roger from Heroicallybadwriter Blog! Whoo Hoo!

Sarah from Heartstring Eulogies Blog! Whoo Hoo!

Felicia Denise from Nesie’s Place Blog! Whoo Hoo!

Go SUPPORT these guys! They will support you back!

 

Authors/Bloggers Rainbow Support Club

Morning! Or, evening depending on your part of the world. Anywho, I’m stopping in to inform you that I’ve joined The Author/Bloggers Rainbow Support Club along with a ton of others. Check us out!

Marje @ Kyrosmagica's avatarM J Mallon YA Author and Poet

bloggers

Welcome, it is my pleasure to introduce you to the latest members of my Author/Bloggers Rainbow Support Club.

The Rainbow Support Club endeavours to provide a friendly and welcoming community of like-minded bloggers, book reviewers and authors who support each other in every which way we can to promote and nurture our love of books, and writing.

First up to Team Awesome is Colleen Chesebro. Colleen is a totally supportive angel, and I’d like to nominate her as person extraordinaire of the club! I can vouch for Colleen’s  worthiness, and angelic qualities as she is currently helping me with my manuscript – The Curse of Time – and doing an amazing job. 🙂 Author, Colleen Chesebro has recently released her first book: The Heart Stone Chronicles: The Swamp Fairy, which I had the delight of reading and reviewing recently:  My 5 * Review of The Heartstone Chronicles: The Swamp…

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It’s Release Day!

Congratulations Amy! Whoop Whoop! I had the pleasure of reading this book in advance and I love Amy’s descriptions of places I’ve never been! First it was Hawaii in The House of the Hanging Jade. This time is Scotland. Check her out ya’ll!

*Comments disabled here. Please support on the original post*

amreade's avatarReade and Write

Good Tuesday morning! When I started working on The House on Candlewick Lane a million years ago (at least it seems that way), it felt like February 7, 2017, would never arrive. But here it is, and I’m thrilled to have the book out in the world!

amy-reade

For those readers who may not be familiar with what the book is about, here’s the Amazon teaser, along with the link to purchase the book if you’re interested:

“It is every parent’s worst nightmare. Greer Dobbins’ daughter has been kidnapped—and spirited across the Atlantic to a hiding place in Scotland. Greer will do anything to find her, but the streets of Edinburgh hide a thousand secrets—including some she’d rather not face.

Art historian Dr. Greer Dobbins thought her ex-husband, Neill, had his gambling addiction under control. But in fact he was spiraling deeper and deeper into debt. When a group of shady…

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