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Topics - Annette_g

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Writers' Cafe / Kindle Unlimited - how are authors paid?

« on: December 24, 2017, 03:17:45 am »

I normally side load ebooks onto my Kindle and I very rarely have the wifi on.

I've just signed up for the free trial of KU for readers. I will probably be reading the books on my Kindle without wifi. Does that mean the authors won't get their page reads?

I have the PC Kindle app, would they get their page reads through that?

Anything Else Amazon / Amazon Prime video UK

« on: April 15, 2017, 02:47:48 pm »

Is there a way to get Amazon Prime video to only show programmes/movies/anime etc. that are available for UK?

I was pleased to see The Amazing Race on there, but it's not available in the UK and you only find that out once you try and watch it. The same thing happened with lots of anime shows as well, we can't watch them here apparently. I am so over geo-restrictions on everything from ebooks to films! Arrgh!

I've paid my subscription but now I can't even watch the things I want to that are on the platform? What sort of system is that?

Writers' Cafe / New place to sell romance books, maybe?

« on: February 01, 2017, 09:47:04 am »

Just got this email today:

We are pleased to introduce to you
InsideRomance.com
The premier romance bookstore.
InsideRomance.com ("IR") is an extension of The Romance Reviews ("TRR"), created to give you another platform to sell your books, as well as provide you with more exposure and promotion for your books. IR will carry romances of all sub-genres, including Erotic Romance, Erotica and LGBTQ.
Why should I place my books at IR?
Benefits:
Focused on selling romance books, therefore a niche site that romance readers would flock to
Loyalty program for readers to keep them coming back for more
Specially lined up marketing activities to draw in readers and promote your books
Referral discount coupons to encourage more reader purchase
IR Facebook and Twitter marketing
Random promotion of books to our IR mailing list of more than 15,000 opt-in subscribers
Important Numbers and Facts
Royalty Percentage: 50% on all sales at the site
Payment: Quarterly via Paypal (to be paid in the first 15 days of the month following the quarter)
Grand Opening is tentatively set in March 2017.
I'm interested! What should I do?
Reply to this email and I'll get you started!

We hope we have gotten you all as excited as we are about this new venture. If you have any questions, feel free to email me.
Carole
The Romance Reviews and Inside Romance
http://www.theromancereviews.com
InsideRomance.com soon to be unveiled!

*** PERMISSION GRANTED TO FORWARD ***

The website isn't up yet, so can't really see what their layout etc. is like at the moment. Or how easy it would be to upload stuff. I think a lot of us are still wary of new channels after what happened with Allromance. Just thought I'd let the writers here know about it.

Writers' Cafe / UK Tax question

« on: January 15, 2017, 03:39:10 am »

I sell very few books. In no year have I made anywhere near the personal threshold of 10K or 11K.

I rung up the tax office last year and the man I spoke to said because the income/profit was so low I wouldn't need to fill in a self-assessment form and that I would only need to start paying tax if I go over the personal threshold.

I am going to write to them to get some clarification, I just wondered if anyone else had some experience of this with low income from their books? What did the taxman/woman say?

I have no other income.

Thanks,
Annette

Writers' Cafe / Some Allromance issues

« on: December 14, 2016, 04:01:43 am »

This has never happened before, but today it did.

So, I tried to deactivate 2 books at Allromance this morning. Normally, when you do that, the book disappears from your author list and any search results. But today, the books are still showing under my author name, but when you click on them, it says the book is no longer available on the site. Is there something I'm missing to remove any reference to the books?

I had a look round their help pages, but that all seemed geared towards readers/downloaders, not authors or publishers.

I tried to open a support ticket, but you've guessed it, that was for if you have problems downloading the book you just bought. No option to mention details of anything else.

Writers' Cafe / KDP paperback previewer only show a blank black screen

« on: December 13, 2016, 07:27:11 am »

Has this happened to anyone else? I only had one book at Createspace and I was trying to move it over.

First of all this morning, it hung for two hours and then had an error that I hadn't uploaded the interior or cover (er, no, because you said you'd get them from Createspace!) Anyway, I uploaded the interior and cover, got past the hang screen. But now it is just showing a blank black screen. No book interior anywhere. I've tried it a couple of times and still get the same blank screen.

Just about tearing my hair out at the moment. Anyone have any insights of what I need to do? Maybe I missed something somewhere.

Thanks.

Writers' Cafe / Anyone got a finished Sc-fi or Space Opera series?

« on: December 08, 2016, 02:21:10 am »

I'm looking for presents for my husband. He likes Sci-fi and Space Opera. Action adventure type stuff, not so much romance. He doesn't mind some romance being in the story, but he is not looking for the romance genre set in space, as it were, and a lot of the sci-fi that came up in my search had lots of covers with shirtless men, so not aimed at him, LOL!

The series has to be finished, he hates waiting for the next instalments if he finds something he really likes.

Writers' Cafe / The Rainbow Shelf has expanded

« on: October 07, 2016, 02:20:09 pm »

They will now offer deals on M/M, F/F, Bi and Trans books

I'm not affiliated with them in any way, I just get their newsletter and have sometimes advertised there.

http://www.therainbowshelf.com/

The bi/trans/ff are a fairly new feature, so now might be a good time to feature on of your books.

Writers' Cafe / Is anyone else having trouble with KDP dashboard?

« on: September 12, 2016, 02:20:30 pm »

I tried to update with my new blurb, but I can't write anything in the box where the description goes and my old blurb isn't in the box, it has disappeared completely. The old blurb is showing on my amazon page for The Chosen. I also updated the price to 4.99 dollars and it's still showing 99 cents on the page. I've cleared my cache/cookies etc. and it's still showing 99 cents for me (or slightly adjusted because I'm in the UK).

Writers' Cafe / Help me tear apart my blurb M/M fantasy romance

« on: September 09, 2016, 03:15:45 am »

I've done a few promos recently and haven't had as many takers as usual. I'm wondering if my blurb is to blame. Or maybe I've reached all the readers I'm going to for this one.

The cover is my avatar pic. It was done by Ravven and I am quite attached to it

The Chosen Blurb:

The neighbouring kingdoms of Oscia and Arcathia have been at a tentative peace for three years after centuries of warfare. Prince Severin of Arcathia has been brought up to put duty before all else and as the only son of the King and Queen, it is his duty to marry and produce an heir. His parents want him to marry an Oscian princess to cement that tentative peace. Unfortunately Severin isn't interested in princesses. Now, if he had his pick of princes that would be another matter.

Havyn has been a slave all his life. When his aptitude for wizardry is discovered, he finds himself purchased and freed by Prince Severin and apprenticed to the royal wizard, Ildar. His duty is to stay chaste to keep his powers strong, but his feelings for Severin sorely test his resolve.

With kingdoms at war, the throne hanging in the balance, magic in the air, and outside forces trying to keep them apart, can the two men find happiness together, or is duty more important than love?

Thanks,
Annette

Writers' Cafe / KND Promo results

« on: July 08, 2016, 02:26:00 am »

Drowning Rapunzel was Kindle Nation Daily Thriller of the day yesterday. I sold 52 copies, over 400 page reads and this was my ranking this morning:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,956 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#98 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Suspense > Psychological
#143 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers & Suspense > Psychological Thrillers
#348 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Mystery & Suspense > Suspense

Writers' Cafe / Cosplay on book covers

« on: June 03, 2016, 07:45:35 am »

Recently I've come across a couple of premade covers that had people cosplaying characters from recognisable franchises - Lord of the Rings, Dragon Age, The Hobbit to name a few.

It seems the designers bought the pictures from stock sites and if they weren't a fan, perhaps didn't know that these are in fact characters and they wouldn't be allowed on book covers. I'm not a legal expert, but I don't think they'd be allowed on covers, would they? The characters are someone else's IP after all.

Writers' Cafe / Queercentric books is closing :(

« on: May 13, 2016, 07:44:15 am »

Another venue to promote LGBTQ stuff bites the dust, just got an email announcement from them just now. They'll be closing on 31st of May, but will honour any promos that authors have paid for until that date.

Some of the more general sites don't even accept LGBTQ stuff at all.

It seems being a small business is very tough these days.

Writers' Cafe / A Tale of Two Covers, Cagnes is amazing!

« on: April 29, 2016, 03:23:39 am »

The first one is the cover I designed myself many years ago. Let's face it, I am not a deisgner by any stretch of the imagination

We did look into cover design at the time, but there weren't as many as there are nowadays, and most worked with the big publisher and their fees were way out of our league.

This is the one Cagnes (Christine) did for me at Bayou Book Covers, a world of difference! It looks so professional, doesn't it? I love it, and my husband loves it too and he is very hard to please on the design front

She just finished the print wrap for me recently and I am waiting for my proofs from Createspace, but even the pdf of it was fantastic. It's a book I can really show off

Writers' Cafe / M/M Romance Cross Author promo? Updates June 24th please check prices :)

« on: April 11, 2016, 05:24:55 am »

These three books haven't changed price yet:

Hard Wood by A.R. Steele
Blood Lilies by T.A. Miles
Territory of Angels by Tricia Owens

Is it an Amazon delay?

Please check your price

Thanks,
Annette

***

I've finally got a landing page done. Weebly was a pain and a half trying to get the covers linked, LOL!

Anyway, please check that your book is correct and links to the right page on Amazon:

http://annettegisby.weebly.com/promos.html

Anyone who does still want to be in, please send me your details before June 15 as we will be away from then until the 20th and I won't see it till afterwards. Please change your prices (if you need to) to 99 cents on June 23 to allow for amazon delays, ready to be promo'd on June 24- Jun 26.

You can link to the landing page for your promo on Twitter, blog etc. I will also add a blog post that weekend with the blurbs of all the stories too.

***

There have been a few of these for different genres, including Patty's giant sf/fantasy ones.

I'm thinking tyring to organise one for June, the Summer Sizzler if any M/M authors are interested.

A 99 cent promo (no countdown deals though, just manually adjust your price for that weekend.)

Run over a weekend, 2-3 days. 24th - 26th June (Fri, Sat, Sun)

No charge to the author.

Any subgenre of M/M romance: contemporary, historical, fantasy, uf, paranormal, supense et al. If two guys get romantically involved, it suits

Any heat level from sweet to erotic, but no outright erotica for this promo. May do an erotica one later in the year.

Authors who submit agree to promote with at least one of the following:

Announce the promo to their mailing list/Twitter/Facebook/Blog etc. - you get the drift

To take part Just send me an email to [email protected] with the following:

Title of Book
Author Name
Subgenre
Book Link at Amazon
Link to another site if you book is available there

New releases and books without hundreds of reviews are welcome

Writers' Cafe / Did anyone else have trouble with blogger yesterday?

« on: February 16, 2016, 05:33:55 am »

Yesterday morning I was editing a post, when the window suddenly disappeared and a message came up saying that blog was no longer available. Weird, I thought. So I went to all my blogs URLs and all 3 blogs had disappeared with the same message: "This blog has been deleted and the name is not available for new blogs."

Went back into blogger. There was a message on a new blog I was trying to set up as an author page and it said THAT one had violated the terms and conditions, but it didn't specify which ones but I had the right to appeal. Fair enough, but if that blog was the problem why delete the other 3 which have been active without a problem for years?

Then, later in the afternoon, the URLs worked again. I signed back into blogger, they needed to confirm my identity and sent me a phone call with a code. Inputted the code and I was able to edit the posts again on my main 3, not the new one.

Have I been hacked do you think? Or was it a glitch on their end?

Can you say stress? I host blog tours and promo for authors and I am booked until April. Can blogger just delete the blogs again with no warning? There wasn't even an option to ask what terms I'd contravened and to change anything in order to fit in with their guidelines.

Writers' Cafe / my first free promo - some results so far

« on: February 14, 2016, 03:21:45 pm »

I would just like to thank all the Kboarders who share their wisdom, their woes and their successes. It is really awe-inspiring and I sometimes feel like a total and silly newbie even though my first ever book was published 20 years ago

And a shout-out to Cagnes (Bayou Cover Designs) who did the new cover for Drowning Rapunzel which you can see in my sig. I don't think the book would have done so well without it.

So, I have tweeted, blogged and advertised with Booksbutterfly and Pixelscroll for my free run today and tomorrow.

So far I have had over 600 free books downloaded and Drowning Rapunzel is no. 4 in the psychological suspense category!

Is that good? I've never had anything in select before, this was an experiment. I'm off to bed now but hopefully will get some more downloads tomorrow

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #302 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)
#4 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Suspense > Psychological

Writers' Cafe / My sales rank has disappeared completely, is this normal?

« on: February 14, 2016, 05:34:21 am »

So, I've finally taken the bull by the horns and put Drowning Rapunzel in select. Today I ran my first free offer and today there is no sales rank at all, yesterday it had a sales rank, but I can't remember what it was.

Does the sales rank disappear when you offer your book for free on a select free day?

Writers' Cafe / For cover designers; Romance Novel Cover sale 50% off

« on: February 07, 2016, 05:02:22 am »

http://www.romancenovelcovers.com/

They are having a sale on their stock images which ends at 6pm EST tonight. Might be some photos of interest there.

Writers' Cafe / Any YA writers here?

« on: January 25, 2016, 07:07:44 am »

I'm just forwarding a message I got by email about a new website called YA Insider, a sister site to The Romance Reviews. I don't write YA, but some of you may be interested. I've got nothing to do with the site, but I do review at The Romance Reviews, just forwarding the message

Do you write YA books? Or like to read them?

Join us now at YA INSIDER (https://www.yainsider.com/), our sister site that caters especially to young adult books.

YA Insider offers a consolidated portal for all information on Young Adult books. With YA Insider, we aim to provide pertinent information on the world of young adult books right at your fingertips:

Find out new and upcoming YA books, even before they hit the bookstore,
Read reviews and recommendations, and participate in discussions about your favorite YA books,
Get the latest buzz in and around the YA world, and check out the latest scoop from the authors themselves.
Participate in contests and events to win attractive prizes
And many more!

AUTHOR PAGES

Each author will have his/her own page, which includes the author's bio, list of books, buy links and other stuff.

JOINING YA INSIDER

Joining YA Insider is free and open to all authors, publishers, reviewers (including aspiring reviewers), and avid readers who are keen to participate in all the events and activities hosted on the site. While a basic membership account needs only email verification before the member can start to post comments, author, publisher and reviewer accounts need to be further approved. Please allow two to three days for processing.

All members who sign up with YA Insider may participate in all the events, contests, giveaways, and other activities hosted on the site. They may also post comments on the books and reviews that have been published.

Join us now in our soft launch and get 25 credits that you can use toward ad promotion: https://www.yainsider.com/

Please forward this invitation to other authors who may be interested.

If you have questions, let me know. Thank you!

Carole
The Romance Reviews
YA Insider

*** PERMISSION TO FORWARD GRANTED ***

Writers' Cafe / Is there a simple way to add text/typogrophy to a picture for book covers?

« on: January 12, 2016, 07:58:51 am »

I have GIMP and I have been tearing my hair out trying to add text to a stock photo. I just can't get the hang of it at all.

I used to have a really old program called MGI Photosuite where it was very simple to add text, and you could add layers and shadows et al, but it doesn't work properly on our new computer.

Canva has a limited range of fonts and you can't upload any, which is a pity. At least the Canva option is easy to do

Thanks.

I have Open Office, not Word, but I saw some tutorials on the web about making covers with Word. I wonder if that option exists with Open Office?

Writers' Cafe / Any deviantart experts?

« on: January 10, 2016, 11:13:25 am »

So, I have an artist who is doing a fanart for me and has sent me a sketch. Only I can't find this sketch anywhere in my account. Is there a special inbox somewhere or should it have gone to my email?

Depending on the size, my email might have not downloaded it. I've emailed to ask the artist, but haven't heard back from her yet. I just wondered if there was something very obvious that I have missed.

Thanks.

Writers' Cafe / Has goodreads changed their layout/look?

« on: December 22, 2015, 07:32:06 am »

Or is it just my browser? The site looks very tacky and unprofessional, compared to what they used to have. And when I rate a book, I can't seem to find how it add it to certain shelves, all of that used to be on the same page.

I don't like the new look at all. But then again, I am very wary of change so that might just be me.

Writers' Cafe / Weird Twitter message - GN4?

« on: November 13, 2015, 07:01:05 am »

So, I got a direct message from someone on Twitter, congratulating me on GN4.

I have no idea what GN4 is, LOL!

I've replied but haven't heard back from them yet. Does anyone know what it means?

Thanks,
Annette

Writers' Cafe / Two sisters want to open a romance only bookstore

« on: October 27, 2015, 12:41:49 pm »

Just saw about it on my Twitter feed:

https://media.bookbub.com/blog/2015/10/24/sisters-team-up-to-open-romance-only-bookstore/

They want to have a physical bookstore, not just digital, and are using Kickstarter to try and finance it.

There are a lot of romance books published, even with the best will in the world, I don't think they will be able to stock every romance title, but good luck to them

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