writer « Robin Writes

Everyone reads books, right? Well, no, in fact, adults read less now than they used to. And as far as books go, no, Facebook doesn’t count!

Me, I prefer real books. The smell, the feel, the printed page . . . But I’ll read just about anything in a pinch: cereal boxes were a favorite when I was a child, because my mom didn’t like me to read at the table, even the breakfast table, because I could drag it out for an hour.

What kinds of books do I like? Some science fiction—I like to be able to pronounce words, even if only in my head, without a struggle each time; and it has to be believeable, as in “what if?” I like historical fiction, too, both the regular kind and the mash-ups, the “what ifs.” Murder mysteries, yes, especially series. Paranormal, magic, other-worldly, ghost-type stuff. Things that make you go “hmmm.” I like westerns, too.

To be specific, in no particular order, I like:

Stephen King

Dean Koontz

John Grisham

James Patterson

Tim LaHaye

Frank Peretti

Sidney Sheldon

Walter Farley

Patricia Cornwell

Zane Grey

Danielle Steel

Louisa May Alcott

Laura Ingalls Wilder

I also have a lot of author friends, and I’ve read many of their books—which I loved! But I also haven’t read and re-read them over decades, because, well, they weren’t available until the last few years. So if I left you off the list, don’t worry—ten years from now, you’ll be on a new list!

I have, at the moment, three favorite books whose authors aren’t mentioned above because I’ve only read one of each of their books:

Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind

Elizabeth Goudge, The Little White Horse

Mira Lode, The Grandma in the Apple Tree

And I highly, highly recommend all three! Obviously, the first one will take a sort of time commitment from you; the second would be considered, today, YA, and the last one is a children’s book. But they all fired my imagination, I still think of them fondly, and yes, I own copies of each.

What books and authors are your favorites, old or new?

Since there was so much interest last week, I’m expanding the topic of marketing and adding some information that a fellow author sent me.

He has had an incredible uptick in sales since using some of these sites, and, as a service to all of you, I decided to test a couple of them myself, to see if it was merely a fluke, or perhaps you might want to give it a whirl too.

All of these sites involved paid promotion—and some of you will say you can’t afford it. That may well be true, but like any business, you have to spend a bit to make money. Let’s start with looking at some figures:

On one of these sites, the first one I’m testing, the cost is $25. The email blast/blog/RSS goes to 700,000 people; the cost is about .00004 per view. That’s pretty darn cheap.

Of course, not everyone will actually read it, some won’t be interested in my book, and some will forget. Some readers may even not order it for weeks or months. But, since my Kindle version is priced at .99, I’ll earn about .50 per copy sold—if I sell 50 books, I break even.

My author friend’s book did much, much better. We shall see. And I’ll update you next week!

If I sell fewer than 50 books, that’s still however many books in the hands of readers who will talk about it, maybe review it. I’m still selling, and I’m still getting promotional value.

And one more thing—a number of sales in a short period also usually results in additional sales even after the promotion. Now, no one can guarantee this, but it’s often proven to be the case.

Here are the sites he recommends, after a year of research and documentation:

Some of these have had better results than other, of course, and it’s going to depend on the author, the book, the genre, and so forth. But this list is a good start for everyone, I think.

As I said, I’m testing them—the first promo I’m doing is on January 30 with Kindle Books & Tips—and I’ll let you know how it works out!