Alphas goes live in 21 days… 3 weeks… and the cover is up… now! What do you think? Isn’t she a beauty? You are the first to see it!
I have found marketing my book is hard… no, harder than that… a bit harder… there. Yep, really hard. I didn’t go to school for this, and to be honest, I’m making it up as I go. I joined a book promotion for this month… check it out! Right here! There are lots of book available on the site. You could even share the link with others!
In June I traveled to Florida, but didn’t have the same adventure Jade did. In July I’ll visit New Orleans… maybe a future book will have adventure taking place in the French Quarter.
Now for the big news, the winner of the free signed copy of Alphas. Drum roll please. The winner is… Samantha Day (I know she’ll be thrilled!)
I want to welcome all my new subscribers, and a warm thank you to the ones who’ve stuck by me from the beginning. With the release of Alphas later this month, half of Jade’s story will be released into the wild.
People today won’t buy things that others haven’t reviewed. Even if we’re at a brick-and-mortar store–are they still really made from bricks and mortar? I digress. Even in these situations, we scan the bar code and check out what other people have found out about the items we want to buy.
Is it any wonder I’ve offered reviewing my book as one of the ways to win a free copy of book three in the Jade Stone Chronicles? It comes out on July 21st. The time is almost upon us! On July 1st I’ll reveal the cover, and announce the winner of the signed paperback book. If you haven’t put up a review, what’s stopping you? If you have and haven’t commented that your review is up, do so now! I need to know to add you to my list.
This offer is quickly coming to an end. The next time you’ll be offered such an amazing deal will be sometime in October or November for book four. Unless I do a whole party, which had a ton of gifts and prizes!
If you are curious, here is a list of each of the books and when they are coming out.
Hope that makes you as excited as I am! Find all of the links ok each of the books pages on my website. Or on my linktree here!
Hi all! Alphas comes out July 21, 2022. I am very excited to share my third book with you. It is the end of Jade’s high school years. I will be including a short story in Bevin’s point of view at the end of the story. All of the Jade Stone Chronicles are in Jade’s point of view and she doesn’t know everything. Bevin wanted all of you to know something, and asked that I include this short piece so you knew how his story played out.
On July 1st I’ll reveal the cover. That will be the deadline for joining the website to enter to win a free signed copy of alphas. If you’ve already been signed up, all you need to do is review Wolf Healer and/or Epsilon to enter one or two times to win. If you review, please drop a comment on his newsletter so I can make sure to know that you have those extra entries!
It is June and I have a flash fiction that will be up for a few more weeks. Check it out and let your creative juices flow!
Alphas comes out on July 21st! If you aren’t signed up to my website, do so to be entered to win a free copy of the third installment of the Jade Stone Chronicles. If you are already part of the page, leave a review for Wolf Healer and/or Epsilon for a chance to win the book. Comment to let me know you’ve left a review. You could be entered three times!
You all are the first to hear of this, but I am planning on adding a short story in Bevin’s point of view to the end of Alphas. I feel it will round out the book nicely.
The cover reveal is for Alphas is coming in July! Details coming soon!
Book four of the Jade Stone Chronicles, Traitor, will come out late November or early December. It is just in its infancy of clean up, editing, beta reading, and so on. My team is busy, so if it gets pushed off later, you’ll just have to wait to see what college brings to Jade.
Again, as we hit the middle of pride month, I hope you’ve taken up the challenge of reading books either by authors in the LGBTQ+ community and/or with LGBTQ+ characters. If you want something steamier than my books, here is a book that is both by an author in the community, with LGBTQ characters. It is a romance, but the scenes are fade to black.
As I dive deeper into the TikTok world, I am learning more and more that… I know nothing, but it’s fun to pretend. I present to you my latest list of: how to be famous, when I am not… but maybe you can be!
At the start, you will need to interact with a lot of people to get them to interact with you.
I know some account(s) follow very few people and have thousands of followers. I can only imagine they’ve spent hours interacting with the people they hope will follow them. Personally I like the community and follow accounts. They follow me. It’s a thing. At the end of the day, TikTok is a community, and interacting is how you get people to follow you.
But Huckle, you ask, how do you interact?
Watch videos to the end, if you don’t, that hurts the person you are interacting with.
Like their video.
If someone likes your video, head over and watch one of two of their videos.
If you don’t love the way they present their content, you could watch while doing chores… at the end of the day, we’re all just trying to figure this out.
Comment, it can be an emoji, word, phrase, anything really.
Copy the link to their video. Sharing is awesome, but copying is usually enough.
Did you know, you can like your own videos? You can be your own fan.
Make sure the people you are interacting with are the people who will be interested in your videos. I do videos about writing and books, so those are the accounts I interact with.
There are a lot of bots – and a lot of opinions about what to do with them. They can up your follow numbers. I’ve heard deleting them helps you to get more views from the people you want.
Once you reach 1000 followers, start going live…once a week? I did my first live with a friend and it was a hoot! So much fun!
When you create a video, speak in a relaxed voice, but remember, you aren’t talking to friends. Speak directly and don’t repeat yourself… in other words, speed up!
I watch friend’s videos and they babble on and on and I just can’t.
Make the word videos readable.
If I can’t read the words as they flash by, what’s the point?
If you make a page or flip video, add the title and author of the book!
People aren’t watching your videos sequentially, don’t assume they saw ‘the last one’, or ‘yesterday’, or any other of your videos.
Never be afraid to ask questions if you are confused. We’ve all been there. How do you add stickers? Where is the cover words? How many hashtags? What type of videos should I make? What’s the right number of videos to post a day? (Two… two a day…) Will TikTok be scary? Will it help me to sell books? Are people on TikTok nice? (Mostly, but some can be rude, you can block them)… So many questions. Just… ask. There are a lot of lovely people who will answer these questions and more.
In the end, have fun. TikTok is a place to enjoy yourself.
Cheers!
Huckle
If you want to see more of my musings, or have a chance a winning one of my book, join my site!
The online writing and reading community is amazing. I have found, over the last few years, people who have become life long friends. I honestly can’t imagine what writers did before the invent and standardization of the interwebs.
** Not me or my actual friends Photo by Sharefaith on Pexels.com
There are places online to find writing help and fun challenges, like the flash fiction I offer! Recently I joined a Summer Reading Competition hosted by a Facebook page. It focused on indie fantasy authors, and being one, I was thrilled. Talk about supporting the community.
After submitting my first review, not only to the site, but to goodreads and Amazon, I asked if I could recommend Wolf Healer to the site. I was informed that without more than werewolves, my book was considered PNR. For those of you who don’t know, that means paranormal romance.
But, I sputtered to myself, I wrote the book to be accessible to all ages…I wrote it for my kids! It isn’t romance. Frustration steaming from my ears, I calmly informed the person who told me my book was romance, that no, it wasn’t. “Too bad, so sad!” No, she didn’t say that, she sent me a link to the pages rules, which stated no shifter books allowed.
I may have mentioned before that marketing is hard! I don’t know how to convince people online to check out my books. This page seemed so perfect! More than that, until June 6th, my ebook is available for FREE! But nope, it’s a no go. My book is anathema to this page.
So, where does this leave me? I don’t know. Part of me wants to walk away from the summer reading challenge. They don’t want me, I don’t want them. I’m also very busy. But, It is early June and the reading competition goes through the end of August. I convinced three of my friends to join as well, and don’t want to walk away from them.
In the end, I was mapping out how to read a bunch of books I didn’t have time to read. This may be a blessing in wolf’s clothing. I will read books for the competition as I have time, but focus my time on the things I really need to do.
In the end, if you are a writer or reader, finding these groups can help you find people who have similar interests. You can meet great friends. And, in all honesty, I have experienced way more of the good than the bad or ugly.
Cheers!
Huckle
P.S. If you aren’t subscribed to my site and do so before the cover reveal, you can enter to win a signed copy of book 3 – Alphas. If you ARE subscribed and leave a review on Amazon/Goodreads for Wolf Healer and/or Epsilon before the cover reveal you can be entered… once per review. Just comment on here to let me know.
Hi Friends! The first Flash Fictions was amazing. The second is here and waiting for your creativity! Find the link to upload your submission here!
If you’re curious about why I’m doing this, it’s because I love reading short short short stories. The inspiration you get from the images blows my mind!
Today is the last day to drop you flash fiction submission in the comments of this post here. I’m hoping to get you to see your creativity. Let your words fly!
I’ve been playing around on my website. I figure out how to make my social media links ACTUALLY work… I hadn’t realized they didn’t work. I created a new page for newsletters! And now, today’s post, marketing.
Over the years I’ve met a lot of indie-authors who have helped me become the author I am today (yes Wes, yes Angela, I just said that to the internet at large!) I plan on highlighting them in the weeks to come, their books, their websites, and more about them. You should support more than traditionally published authors. People who do this on their own are amazing!
But wait, I teased you with a free book! My third book, Alphas, comes out on July 21, 2022. If you subscribe to my site before the cover reveal, you could win a free signed copy of the book.
But wait, you say, I’m already subscribed. Well, comment on this post that you’ve left a review about book 1 or book 2, and you’re set! If you’ve commented on both, you’ll be entered twice for being a long time fan. I believe in honoring those who’ve supported me!
Well, maybe not the kind of party YOU’RE thinking of… unless you know me. I joined a Cover Reveal Party! Now all of you are like, yep, that sounds legit! It’s a Facebook party, one I can do from the comforts of my home. And guess what, you can join… today even, and win prizes!
The party exists HERE! And who is throwing the party? Author Lou Grimes! He even has a few of his books available for you to read to catch up in his series. It’s a total win win! Get in fast while the getting is good!
I hope to see you there. The party goes through the end of May.
Huckleberry Rahr - Author 