“Maria Lucus,” the short-story sequel to Charlotte Collins, is now available as an audiobook on Audible.com! Both the novel and the short story are narrated by Anne Day-Jones, who will also be reading Caroline Bingley. I’m pleased to be able to offer the novels and short stories in the Personages of Pride & Prejudice Collection as audiobooks, and I hope you will enjoy them
Have a look at the opening slides in the US v Apple et al ebook price fixing trial, and for more information about what his all means, read here.
The results of this trial will have a big impact on our industry, so stay tuned!
U.S. v. Apple et al Opening Slides
Today I’m pleased to participate in the Jane Austen Giveaway Hop hosted by vvb32 Reads. Fans of Ms. Austen have come together to offer some great items for you to win.
I’m offering the audiobook edition of Charlotte Collins: A Continuation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice
Charlotte Collins is the first audiobook I’ve produced, and I was quite nervous about finding just the right person to narrate it. So I was beyond thrilled when I connected with Anne Day-Jones, a British actress who has had numerous TV and movie roles and voiced video games as well. You can read more about her work here. I think she did a fantastic job. Go here to listen to a free sample.
(If you are an indie author who is curious about audiobook production, go the Indie Jane to read my 3-part series on the subject.)
Best of luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Hop On to Enter to Win More Austenesque Goodies!
It’s here! Charlotte Collins: A Continuation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice
This is the first audiobook I’ve produced, and I was quite nervous about finding just the right person to narrate it. So I was beyond thrilled when I connected with Anne Day-Jones, a British actress who has had numerous TV and movie roles and voiced video games as well. You can read more about her work here.
Because of Anne’s talents, the audiobook truly came to life. Her narration goes beyond mere reading. It’s as if I’m somehow watching my characters even though I can’t see them. Her voices for the Charlotte, Maria, and Mr. Basford gave their characters so much depth and emotion, but I also loved the voices she used for the older, more humorous characters. Mrs. Card is a particular favorite.
Thank you, Anne, for all your hard work bringing Charlotte into a new venue, and I’m so glad you agreed to voice “Maria Lucas” and Caroline Bingley as well.
I hope you will all enjoy the audiobook!
For the past nine days, I took an unusual vacation. I spent the whole time learning and riding with my pal and Riding Fear Free: Help for Fearful Riders and Their Teachers
Laura and Jennifer, Photo by Cheri Steele of One Oak Farm
Isn’t Darcy pretty?
Here we are again:
On the Trails at One Oak
But I digress.
I am slowly catching up on work, but I’ll hit the highlights.
I hit this button more than I realized in At Fault.
When the first reviewer mentioned that there was a different level of swearing in At Fault than in the previous two books in the Southern Fraud Series, I didn’t think much about it. Then another reader mentioned the amount of swearing on my Facebook page. This morning, I found another review that mentioned swearing in Absolute Liability. Three is a pattern, and so I decided to look more closely at the language I had chosen for the Southern Fraud Thriller series.
That’s right, I counted the swear words in each book. I’m not going to break it down word by word for you because that would be boring, but after a count, it was clear that At Fault had twice as many expletives as the previous books.
I never intended my books to be “clean” mysteries with no foul language, violence, or gore, and I am comfortable with the precedent set by Absolute Liability with regard to language and description. Bad guys swear; cops swear; that’s the way it is. But I do believe that because the books are in a series, I set up expectations in book 1 that needed to be followed in all subsequent volumes. Readers should expect the same type of language and descriptions in all the books in the series based on what they read in the first novel, and I had inadvertently given them something different in book 3.
This morning, I edited At Fault so that the language matched the precedent set by the first two books. In fact, it now has fewer swear words than Death Benefits. I apologize for failing to maintain the precedent I had set and promise to do better in the last three books of the series.
Updates to the ebook versions of At Fault and the box set of Southern Fraud Thrillers are in progress, so please check for them at Amazon, BN, and Kobo in the next 48 hours. Updates take longer at the other retailers, but they should be there in the next week or so.
Warning: Math Ahead
In April, I had promotions on books in both genres, both different and both successful.
First, the ladies at Indie Jane and I had a group $.99 sale, pooling our marketing power for the benefit of the whole group. I had low expectations for this promotion because I have offered Charlotte Collins for sale at $.99 in the past and never sold enough to make up for the lower price. I credit the strength of my friends’ books–Attempting Elizabeth
This example shatters a longstanding myth. In the trad pub world, your book gets one month to prove itself in terms of sales, and then it’s done and removed from the shelves. But with indie pubbing, your book has all the time in the world, and you can slide down the bestsellers lists and climb them again years after the book is released.
Second, I promoted Absolute Liability at Amazon, BN, and Kobo using BookBub. I priced Absolute Liability at $.99 and lowered the other two books in the series to $1.99 even though they were not officially part of the promotion. I paid $460 for the promotion and earned it back through sales of AL in less than 24 hours, and sales of all three books continue to be strong even after raising the prices. Thanks to this promotion, Absolute Liability can now add BN Nook Best Seller to its existing title of Amazon Kindle Best Seller. The Nook edition hit number 10! And on Amazon, it topped out at 114 on the Kindle Best Sellers list, made the Movers and Shakers list, and went to number 1 in Mystery Series and 4 in Women Sleuths. Sales of the other two books also soared.
This promotion finally answers the question “How do I get my books seen at BN?” Here’s one answer: use BookBub. This provided enough visibility to raise my sales at BN across the board. It also provided some visibility at Kobo, but far less than at the other two venues. I will use BookBub again.
The conclusion? Advertising works, but you have to find the right venues. Some of these promotions may not cost a dime, but sometimes you have to be willing to risk some money. If you decide to try BookBub or other venues, let us know how they work for you. I’ll keep you posted on future promotions too.
Pistols at dawn!
Every few months or so, proponents of traditional publishing and fans of indie pubbing engage in a steel-cage death match. This month’s edition has been entertaining, mainly because of the extra fun vitriolics.
Here are a few articles for you to consider:
Then everyone under the sun started talking about it.
Entertained yet?
Seems like everywhere you look, someone is up in arms over something someone said about their momma.
Here’s how I look at these dust-ups. They’re informative. Read them in order to keep up with what’s going on in the industry, but for heaven’s sake, use your head and interpret like Spock: without getting emotional about it. It’s important to keep up with the news and changes to publishing, but it’s not important to jump into the fray and defend your opinion to the death. Sure, say what you think, but don’t let it descend into name-calling. (Although it is entertaining to watch, so on second thought, go ahead if that’s what you want to do.)
I’ve got nothing against traditional publishing. I’m neither yearning for the “prestige” of a deal nor standing at their doors with flaming torches. Heck, if the right company offered me the right deal, I’d consider it. I’d go hybrid under the right circumstances. (Hear that, Amazon? Call me.) But I’m also not going to sit around, twiddling my thumbs and waiting for that offer to come, and I’m not going to feel bad about it. I’m going to continue earning my own living using the means available to me and not waste time getting caught up the drama.
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