Since Covid, I paused my in-person activities and pivoted to learning online marketing better. I knew how to post online, but I sure hadn’t learned to sell online. I tried Bryan Cohen’s Amazon Ad challenge, where he step by step walks through setting up multiple Amazon Ads and what the next steps are to keep growing it. In this exclusive post for paying patrons, you can see how much I made and how much I spent the past few months. Check it out...
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Intro to Amazon Ads for authors
This post isn’t about Amazon. I mean, it _is_ about Amazon, but it isn’t. It’s bigger than that, about having more ways to get your work out there in front of your people. I love supporting local businesses and small businesses (I am one!). Amazon doesn’t need me to post about them to drive traffic their way. This is just a useful post for those curious what it’s like as they consider the myriad of options out there. A few months ago, I tried Bryan Cohen’s Amazon Ad challenge, where he step by step walks through setting up multiple Amazon Ads and what the next steps are to keep growing it. Here are a few of the things I loved about it as I dug in....
A different kind of mystery
I think we can all agree that I like weird books, or at least, weird-adjacent ones. Staying neatly within all the genre conventions, not exactly my thing; blending genres, even better. When I began reading my friend Andy Zach's new book (or, newer book...he publishes faster than I can read!), I just knew I needed to do a post about different sorts of mysteries, mysteries told a little differently than all the books you first would see on the "Mystery" genre section of Amazon or your favorite bookshop. This is that post....
My favorite blogging tools: A guest post from The Picky Bookworm
(Ahem, Amy here. I'm so excited to introduce you all to Pamela from The Picky Bookworm with this guest post on favorite blogging tools. Take it away!....) --- All bloggers have their favorite tools. I can’t think of a single blogger you could find who didn’t have a list of at least 4 tools they use, and why. From automation to newsletters, bloggers have been finding ways to make blogging easier for years. I’ve listed my favorite blogging tools below, and I’ll tell ya, they make my job so much easier!
The Flower Letters: a different way to story
I always love finding and learning about different story structures. So when I heard about The Flower Letters, I had to snag it up. Receive a story in the mail over the course of a year, in the medium of letters the characters write (plus bonus fun things like stickers and newspaper articles and such that broaden the story world more!) Check out the most recent mailing I received in this post...
A circus story 10 years in the making
It doesn't feel like 10 years, but here we are. It's 2022, and back in 2012 I took an "Uncanny Literature" class in my final year at college. We studied The Sandman by E.T.A. Hoffman, and a bunch of, well, uncanny literature. I fell in love. That's how it all started, how the seed for a magical circus story was planted. It's been a long journey. It took me awhile with all the life things. It took my characters awhile - one was going through literal torture while the others chilled by a bonfire for quite a long while as I went about my life. But we finally found our way through the story to the other side. In this blogpost, I share more details of the journey for patrons. Click the link to read all about where it started and what's next.
Traditional or indie publishing, that is the question
So how does a writer choose between traditional and indie publishing? And what if an author chooses....both? For I Know You Like a Murder, it was an easy decision for me. In this blogpost I talk about the factors in deciding and what I'm looking at for my new paranormal circus novel....
Lego typewriter building from a newbie Lego builder
What's it like building an expert 2000+ set after not touching Lego since like...5...? Here's my experience with Lego typewriter as a newbie, including process pics and tips.
The myth of 2 options: starving artist or household name
Ya know that myth of only two options, where in books & films any author is either a starving artist or a bestseller household name, no in between? Of course that comes from a scarcity mindset, but more specifically I've been thinking this comes from humans just not being able to grasp super large numbers easily, like for instance, how big a population of 8 billion people really is. Check out this blog post where I break down how many books you need to sell as an author.
Let’s be real for a bit. Thank you.
As I'm preparing to go full steam ahead in the new year, I don't want to pretend these past couple years didn't exist. I don't want to pretend that I'm some machine that will keep churning out things all the time. And hey, if some creator steps away, you have the total freedom to move on too. You can unsubscribe from that email, you can unfollow and disengage, you can find other things to spend your money on especially in this economy, right? And yet, you're here. So thank you. I couldn't do this without you.