Tag Archives: Goodreads

The Waterway Girls By Margaret Graham | Recommended Reads

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Frost likes to think we know what we are talking about when we recommend books, and, the fact is: we do. Written by writers and authors, we read hundreds of books every year. So Frost editor Catherine Balavage here to recommend The Waterway Girls By Margaret Graham. You can read the review here. Milly Adams also writes for Frost and we are very proud of that.

THE FIRST NOVEL IN MILLY ADAMS’ BRAND NEW SAGA SERIES. Perfect for fans of Daisy Styles and Nancy Revell. 
War lands them in the same boat. Can they pull together?

October 1943, West London
Nineteen-year-old Polly Holmes is leaving poor bombed London behind to join the war effort on Britain’s canals.

Stepping aboard the Marigold amid pouring rain, there’s lots for Polly to get to grips with. Not least her fellow crew: strong and impetuous Verity, whose bark is worse than her bite, and seasoned skipper Bet.

With her sweetheart away fighting in the RAF and her beloved brother killed in action, there’s plenty of heartache to be healed on the waterway. And as Polly rolls up her sleeves and gets stuck into life on board the narrowboat – making the gruelling journey London up to Birmingham – she will soon discover that a world of new beginnings awaits amid the anguish of the war.

 

 

The Business of Books – 18.1.17

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the-business-of-books-interviewswithjanecableSince Another You saw the light of day almost a month ago much of my writing life has been taken over by marketing, interspersed with periods of panic that I’m not marketing enough, or that I’m doing the wrong things. It’s actually very hard to tell what works, however empirical you try to be, so one of my first priorities has been to start the reviews ticking over. That really matters.

Reviews are not all about an ego trip for the author – although I have to say with some of the initial comments about Another You my head could swell more than one hat size. In the cold light of day – rather than the warm glow of knowing someone really loved your book – reviews are about Amazon algorithms. Once you pass a certain number (said to be 50, but for The Faerie Tree it was somewhere in the low 60s) your book will be featured more and more in Amazon customer mailings and suggestions. It’s certainly worth it – I went from selling a few copies of The Faerie Tree each day to selling a thousand or so over a three week period. It just takes a little while – and a lot of work – to get there.

Some lovely reviewers will post on Amazon on the UK, in the US and on Goodreads – as well as their own blogs if they have them. There’s an extra dimension to the Amazon reviews for Another You because for each one in the UK and the US I’m donating £1 to Frost’s favourite charity, Words for the Wounded.

Over the last few years I’ve met some lovely book bloggers online. Most of them have full time jobs and/or are busy mums as well as reading, reviewing and writing and I have a huge admiration for their work rate. I try to be as helpful to them as I can by sharing and tweeting things which I think will be of interest to my followers too and taking part in their special events, so over time relationships build. That means I don’t feel bad about asking if they’ll review Another You or take part in the blog tour but it also means it’s a pleasure to work with them.

The Business of Books – 18.1.17topbookboggersinDorset

Some really go the extra mile, putting together graphics for the book to go with their reviews. Making these graphics – especially useful for saying more in Twitter posts – is something I’ve started to do myself, using a website called Canva. I have no design skills at all but even I can manage to knock up something which looks quite professional. Here’s one I prepared earlier to showcase some review quotes.

Something I haven’t been able to do before is offer a free ebook on Amazon to generate downloads and reviews. On Friday I had an email from Endeavour saying that Another You will be on free promotion from 16th – 20thJanuary. I was really excited by the possibilities but a little phased by the lack of notice. Having canvassed a few writer friends they advised me to get everyone possible to share the news – and the download link – and to look at a few well-chosen free book promotion sites. Sadly most of them need a lead time of at least five days but I have picked three and I’ll let you know well they work in due course.

To end my post with something completely different… I am absolutely made up that my first novel, The Cheesemaker’s House, has been selected by Books on the Underground for 1st February. I really believe in sharing books and this is an amazing way to do it. I’m hugely grateful to the book fairies for allowing me to join the fun.

To download your free copy of Another You before Friday please visit:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Another-You-Jane-Cable-ebook/dp/B01N9HINKI/
https://www.amazon.com/Another-You-Jane-Cable-ebook/dp/B01N9HINKI/

 

 

Best Endeavours Book Blogging Best: Jane Cable on what happens once that digital publishing deal is in the bag continues.

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janecablenewbookwriterBEST ENDEAVOURS

Jane Cable’s blog about what happens once that digital publishing deal is in the bag continues.

BOOK BLOGGING BEST

It wasn’t how I’d expected to find out that Another You was live on Amazon. It was just a hint, really, in an email from Endeavour. The lovely Dorset author Rosanna Ley had given me a cover quote for the book so I’d passed it on. Only to receive the reply that the Amazon description would be changed but it might take twenty-four hours to update.

I was straight on the internet and searching. Yes – there it was. Pristine, undownloaded, unnoticed. Just how I wanted it to be.

Nevertheless I sprang into action. My Amazon author profile needed updating and the book linked to it. My web designer needed a prod… but only because she’d been moving house and once she realised the urgency she rushed to publish the updates.

I also needed to tell the bloggers signed up for the tour. I’d envisaged tying it in with a January launch but it was becoming clear there was no way I could keep my promotional powder dry for that long. So I consulted and we’ve agreed that it doesn’t matter so very much and we’ll probably go for early February. It’s an enviable line up of premier British book bloggers including Rosie Amber, Liz Loves Books, Linda’s Book Bag, Being Anne and Jaffa Reads Too.

The next question was review copies. With my previous titles I relied heavily on Netgalley – and Netgalley promotions – to reach anyone who may want to review the book. Matador had made them available for four to six weeks but Endeavour’s policy is just seven days – and the clock started ticking on Friday. My next task was to reach every blogger who’d shown an interest in my books in the past; by email, through Twitter – even Goodreads (although Goodreads frown on this sort of behaviour) just to let them know the book was there. Some weren’t interested but overall the response has been really good. And of course I’m tweeting the link to the Netgalley download as often as I dare.

Jane Cable, publishing, writing

Regular readers of Frost will know my connections with Margaret Graham’s charity, Words for the Wounded, and I had always intended to use the book to raise funds and awareness. Not just because I believe in it, but because a major character in Another You is a soldier suffering from the aftereffects of combat. So what I have decided to do is to donate £1 for every review of the book on Amazon in the UK and the US. For more information on the hows and whys, please visit my article on Words for the Wounded’s own blogspot:http://wordsforthewounded.blogspot.co.uk/

In the middle of all this activity, sometime on Sunday evening, the book escaped. It was being downloaded, beginning to achieve an Amazon ranking. So there was no point in keeping quiet about it anymore. Which leaves me with quite a long to do list for this week.

Happy Christmas everyone!

Jane Cable is the author of two independently published romantic suspense novels, The Cheesemaker’s House and The Faerie Tree, and a sporadic contributor to Frost. Another You tells the tale of how chance meetings on the 60th anniversary of D-Day help forty-something Marie Johnson to rebuild her shattered confidence and find new love. Discover more at www.janecable.com.

THE FAERIE TREE: A Book In The Making | Beltane

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THE FAERIE TREE- A book in the making | BeltanefairytreeaprilBeltane: a season of fertility and fire, a time to welcome new life into the earth. A good time to contact spirits or interact with the Fae.

After the rigours of the last few weeks I am absolutely convinced that releasing a new book is akin to passing through fire. Or at very least, virtual fire. I seem to have spent most of my time tweeting, googling, goodreading, facebooking and linking in. Even my dreams – or nightmares – have been seen through the prism of my laptop or iPad screen.

Why? I have been chasing the writer’s holy grail: reviews. In a world where there are thousands of books, how else are readers to choose what to read? And without the right number of reviews (rumoured to be at least fifty) you are not going to kick on with those all important Amazon search algorithms.

THE FAERIE TREE- A book in the making | BeltanebluebellsinFT

Of course hunting down reviews is a potentially risky business because even when you ask… or suggest… that bloggers and other opinion formers review the book you cannot, quite rightly, influence what they say. With my first novel, The Cheesemaker’s House, I had my (only) one star review early on so I got it out of the way. With The Faerie Tree I’m still waiting. No fewer than three stars anywhere. Yet.

Of course there are reviews which are downright irritating and it just isn’t the done thing (again, quite rightly) to reply. Top of my list are the people who spell the main characters’ names wrong; I know reviewers are busy people but if they have skim-read a book they ought to admit to it. I subscribe to the Alliance of Independent Authors’ Ethical Author code (for more information see here: http://allianceindependentauthors.org/ethical-author/) and part of that is about being open and transparent when I review other people’s books. I would love all reviewers to do the same.

On the upside, there are reviewers you just want to pick up and hug. Like the one who completely got the fact that part of my reason for writing the book was to give people who suffer from depression a positive portrayal. Like the one on Goodreads who realised the book wasn’t really their thing but gave it three stars anyway because it was well written. Like the reviews that just make me laugh.

Some of that laughter could just be relief. Until a book is out there you never really know how it will be received. Overall, it’s doing really well; 4 ½ stars on Amazon and 4.1 on Goodreads. People are generally gripped by it – one reader in South Africa finished it by torchlight during a power cut. They are enjoying the characters, their relationships, their stories.

But I am learning, too. Of course it’s too late to change The Faerie Tree now but there is a significant minority who are finding one of the main characters irritating – have I got that wrong? And others feel the resolution of the mystery is too obscure… or even completely lacking. Should I have spelt it out a little more? All useful things to consider as I complete the first draft of my next offering and begin the editing process.

But, being Beltane, I have lifted my eyes from the screen and ventured out into sunshine in the natural world. Where better to go than the fairy tree wood in Hampshire where the story began? And to thank the faeries, elves and pixies who live there for their very large contribution to the success of their book.

The Faerie Tree is available as an ebook or paperback from Amazon, Kobo, Waterstones and to order from all major bookstores. Find out more at http://janecable.com/the-book/4588312168 .

 

 

THE FAERIE TREE: A Book In The Making

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faerietreejanecableImbolc: When the days are getting longer and the earth is getting warmer, a time of fertility and fire, and of focussing on our own magical gifts and abilities.

Being an author is in some ways akin to parenthood. Although not, of course, quite so important. But it is an act of creation (albeit solitary), nurture, and then letting your offspring go to make its own way in the world.

The last part is the hardest. Time and again while checking the proofs for The Faerie Tree I was assailed by awful thoughts: it’s not good enough; nobody’ll like it; it will fail. Time and again I had to remind myself to have faith in my editor’s view – and in the opinions of others who have read it.

But when your book makes its way into the wider world it isn’t enough to hover at the school gates for twenty minutes then go home and cry. You have to shout about it – tell the world – make them want to buy it.

So the last month has been focussed on marketing – which isn’t necessarily one of my own magical abilities. I know the theory, but somehow I don’t have the knack of pushing myself that some other authors have. I just don’t know how to stand there and say “Buy my book – it’s amazing.”

The first step in marketing is getting your book into places where people can buy it. Matador does a great deal of this for me, particularly the online stuff. On 21st March (or maybe a little before) it will miraculously appear on Amazon, Kobo, iBooks, Google, Waterstones & WH Smith online. It will be sitting on marketing platforms like Goodreads and I’ve Read That. It will be available for bookshops to order through the industry’s main wholesalers – but the job of persuading them to actually stock it will be down to me.

While the cut price books offered by the big retailers are great for readers they aren’t so good for writers because they have pushed many local booksellers out of business. The chain stores have a stocking policy which rules out local decision making, leaving independent authors and many traditionally published ones out in the cold. Even where they exist the independent book trade can be timid too – before giving it valuable shelf space they have to be sure a book will sell. It’s not their fault – most of them are living hand to mouth and cannot afford to take potentially costly risks. Even on sale or return.

Inevitably many sales are online (The Cheesemaker’s House sales to date are about a 50:50 split ebook and paperback, with half the paperbacks being sold through Amazon) so the marketing focus has to be here too. The first thing I did was organise a blog tour so I am at least guaranteed some coverage around the launch date. The next thing is to make sure the book is available for reviewers, booksellers and librarians to download via Netgalley. And book a Netgalley promotion to make sure it stands out from the crowd.

Other marketing musts are updating my website (www.janecable.com) ready for the beginning of March; moving my Amazon author profile to their new format (long overdue); and polishing up my Goodreads profile, Twitter masthead and Facebook page.

And if that wasn’t enough I’ve also got this really crazy idea to create a faerie tree for my home city of Chichester. I’ll certainly need more than a little help from the hidden folk to pull that one off…