The last few days were very special to Cecilia and I. Not only we received several new reviews of Countermeasure and Cuffed at Midnight on Amazon and Goodreads over the weekend, but we also decided to take a jump into the KDP Select pool. It was a decision we reached after a lot of discussion and after reading feedback from many other authors who have taken the same route.
In an attempt to put our novel in the hands of readers, we had tried many options and techniques. We even offered the book through our own site, allowing readers to download the book free of charge directly from our servers. After a whole month, there had been very few takers. We were somewhat disappointed by the turn out but not discouraged from trying other avenues to put our book in the hands of potential readers.
Back in April, after some struggles with the Smashwords extended distribution system, we had suspended the sale of both our independent titles from it. As expected, it took a month for the title to be removed from all premium distributors. Once it was, we were then free to embark on a new journey.
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Cecilia and I have followed two authors closely for the past couple of months. These authors have created the Emotion Thesaurus, a site used by many writers as a source of phrases that helps other authors construct richer sentences in their books. It's a fabulous resource to new and experienced authors alike. The reason we were following them was that they decided to compile their site into a book and we were both hoping to get a copy as soon as it was released.
Indeed, we bought the book last week and they are (two copies since we are in opposite ends of the continent) on their way to our hands as I type this (gotta check the items' tracking for the 100th time). Although we were able to purchase the book last week, its official release date is today and to celebrate it, the authors, Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi, are hosting a Random Act of Kindness Blitz. Add a comment
This morning while Chris was handling some promotion rounds for us, I took a moment to sit back and relish the feeling—a feeling of accomplishment.
Back in September 2010 when we met and were paired as a writing team in a role-playing group, we clicked from the start. It turned to be three of the most wonderful months of our lives as we poured our heart and soul into the characters we portrayed and the story lines we wrote.
Each writer has a style, not only when they write, but also when they edit. Each gets comfortable with a process of sorts that allows them to polish his/her work to a high shine. The process is something you create/establish as you mature and develop your skills as a writer. It happens naturally and surely and the more you use it, the easier it becomes.
For Cecilia and I, our partnership in editing has evolved and progressed into a smooth deep editing process. While we tend to not force, pick or choose who writes what when, writing the chapters and characters pieces based on gut feeling and personal attachment to a scene (which a lot of times are written totally out of order. For example, the last chapter of COUNTERMEASURE was written before chapter three was even outlined.), we tend to have a more organized and methodic editing routine. Add a comment
Promoting a book is hard work and takes a LOT of time. Time we could spend writing. And in order to promote, you have to spread the word, put the books in the hands of readers, make it accessible to those interested in giving the story a chance to shine.
Earlier this month we tried to reduce COUNTERMEASURE's price to $0.00 on the current outlets (Amazon, B&N, ARe, Kobo, Sony, Diesel, iTunes and Smashwords) but neither, with the exception of Smashwords would accept anything listed under $0.99 in the settings. That is, unless you signed for exclusive distribution rights, which to us is a no-no at this point in time.
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