A Dream Come True

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All My Life, apple, first in a series, first things, free book, freebie, ibookstore, inspiration for writers, mark coker, promotion, rucy ban, self-publishing, smashwords, Writing

When I’d started my self-publication journey, I’d set a milestone for myself.

But before I share that, I want to tell you about how it felt during those long torturous months when I used to receive standard rejection e-mails from agents. As it is, being a writer is tough. You work alone. For a long time you get no feedback on what you’re writing, you have to discipline yourself, you have to constantly assure yourself that the work you’re doing is not completely useless and utter crap.

Fighting all these moments of horrible self-doubt, once you’ve managed to write that perfect masterpiece…the one that had been simmering inside you all those years…you send it off to agents hoping like hell you’ll get some reply…some sort of comment…feedback…anything. Then you get your first rejection letter. It’s killing of course, but not as much as the last one.

Every day, I used to switch on my iPad and after my shoulders had slumped with yet another standard rejection e-mail, I used to hop over to the iBook Store and dream about seeing my book featured there. Someday, I used to tell myself.

Yesterday, it happened. Yes. My book..my whole series was featured as a part of an ongoing promotion campaign being run by Apple.

‘First In A Series’ is a promotion currently being run on the iBook Store and my book is just one of the many featured there. But. It’s there. It’s what I’d always dreamed about. It might not be much for many authors but for me it means a lot. It’s a validation like no other. Even the CEO of Smashwords, Mark Coker, posted about this promotion and mentioned all the Smashwords authors that got featured in it. Including me.

So, dear reader, if you’re thinking of publishing a book and you’ve been repeatedly getting bogged down, I suggest you wait no longer. The Nike tagline might be a big boring cliche but hell, it’s one hundred per cent true. See for yourself…

FIRST THINGS SERIES on Apple’s iBook Store

SMASHWORDS Article by Mark Coker 

 

Wear You Down hits #4 rank on Apple!

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apple, bargain, best romance, cheap books, cheap kindle, coupons, discounted, ebooks, erotica, freebie, ibookstore, promotion, top ranking ebooks, top romance books

Wohooo!!!!!Wear You Down hit the number 4 rank on Apple’s iBook store in Australia this week!

The great people at Apple sent me this screenshot and made my day!

As a celebration, I’m going to be giving away Wear You Down at a 33% discount for just this week!! When you order your book from smashwords, just enter the coupon code SC42C to avail this special discount! Promo ends on March 10, 2014. Original price- $2.99 Discounted Price – $2.00.   https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/354595

Thank you dear readers for all the love and support you’ve shown me! Keep reading! 🙂

WEAR YOU DOWN – Teaser #1

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adult, amazon, apple, free, new, pre-order, promotion, romance, rucy ban, top romance books, wear you down

Friday is coming, people!! Three days to go for the WEAR YOU DOWN release and here’s a teaser for you…

Both of us were breathing heavily as we stood there staring at each other, completely amazed by the intensity of what we’d just shared. The year-long separation had done us some good after all.
Harry’s hands moved up to hold my face and his thumb started stroking my cheek. “Baby, we’ve already wasted one whole year so I’m not going to play any more games. I’m in this for the long haul. Are you?”
I nodded my head slowly but then stopped as something occurred to me. “I’m in Rio and you’re from…”
“Illinois,” Harry said quietly.
“So then…how is this ever going to work?”
He looked at me for a beat and then replied in a soothing gravelly voice. It was the kind of voice that could make you believe in love, eternity and happily ever after.
“We’ll make it work. After seeing you work that stage, I don’t think you should ever stop doing what you obviously love and are so good at.”
His words hit me somewhere deep in my heart…

AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER on iTUNES!
LINK TO THE iTUNES STORE – http://bit.ly/1k6X2Wr
Available on AMAZON from 28th February, 2014.

Hey All! Some Brilliant News…

Tags

angus stone, apple, christina lauren, ibookstore, jillian dodd, kristen, Lilliana anderson, melody grace, New Adult, rucy ban, wear you down

ALL MY LIFE was the second most downloaded book in Australia last month and was even mentioned by Apple as one of the most popular New Adult reads!

It was also featured in the iBook Store (along with the likes of Jillian Dodd and Christina Lauren)! Check the link here which the nice people at Apple sent to me: http://bit.ly/Knr6xa

And for all my dear readers who are waiting anxiously for WEAR YOU DOWN…..you don’t have to wait long….February 28th is coming soon!

I leave you now with a LOVEly…lovely song….

What Not To Do When Writing Your Next Book

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amazon, apple, publishing, tips, Writing

1) Don’t keep checking Goodreads, Amazon and all of the other innumerable sales channels which you had no idea were even selling your book (Diesel e-books store!) for new reviews. STEP AWAY FROM THAT BUTTON! DON”T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT! Reading all the negative reviews will not help you! Look away. Go pluck your eyebrows, wax your legs, anything….anything will be more pleasurable than reading that slamming review. Step away now!

2) Don’t keep wasting your money on promos and adverts without having a basic marketing plan. Figure out which websites work for your book, which free book advert boosters are popular, which blogs have heavy traffic. Then figure out when you plan to launch your book, will you be a part of KDP Select, when do you plan to make it free, when do you plan to book the various promo dates, are they even available?….and while you’re busy dong all of this….do not under any circumstances ignore point number one. If you think you can just slip in a glance at your Goodreads review page because hey, it probably won’t even count. You THINK WRONG.

Dear dear writer, trust me, you don’t need that kind of stress in your life! You were already screwed when you chose this profession ‘coz there is probably nothing that takes so much time and pays so badly as writing does (well, maybe teaching! I part-time as a teacher…so I’m kinda in the know).

3) Don’t look at another writer’s Facebook page, blog and feel envious at the speed with which they keep posting updates and churn out new books. Just like we say it for our children, every writer is also…special. Say it with me…FCUK THIS SHIT! Just write your next book and focus all your energy on it because in the end that’s what really matters.

6) That said…don’t ignore the readers and bloggers who’ve liked your book and said pretty things about it. There is no better motivation in the world than an ‘I loved your book!’ e-mail in your inbox. Share the love back. With other readers, bloggers, even other authors. They are not the enemy. They are in it just as much as you. Now switch off all your social media accounts and…get back to writing that next book!!

As will I.