All Blog Posts Tagged 'ebooks' (389)

Hello. My name is Neil Ostroff and I have started a project on Kickstarter that I am hoping will get fully funded. I am an author of twelve books (nine published) with a tenth coming out this spring. You’re welcome to learn all about me and my books by clicking the links on Kick starter.

   I am hoping to raise funds for a huge marketing and promotion campaign for my latest sci-fi series, THE END TIME. If you help fund this campaign I will publish…

Wow! Another great review for DROP OUT.  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005FX0K7U   I never expected the book to have such an impact. Thanks to all who have written to tell me how much the book has affected them.

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Exactly three years ago today, I first discovered Kindle Direct Publishing while desperately searching for a new agent to represent my books. A few weeks prior, I parted ways with my then agent, a powerful New Yorker with dozens of big sales under his belt. Leaving the agency was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done and the lowest point in my twenty years of continuous writing, but I immediately saw potential in KDP as a way to get my books out into the…

I watched a television special the other morning highlighting the electronics show in Las Vegas and what new products are being launched this year. Some of them were absolutely amazing, like glasses that project images right onto your eyeballs and gaming devices that the user controls with their own muscle movements instead of using their hands. These new devices led me to think about the future of my craft; writing.

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Yesterday, I watched a morning news segment highlighting a couple who were about to lose their house due to foreclosure and how publishing and selling their books on Amazon had saved them. The authors went on to explain that they write romance novels together and once they realized the popularity of the genre due to the success of Fifty Shades of Gray, wrote feverishly producing more than twenty novels in six months. Quite a feat, I might add.…

When I first started to think seriously about devoting my life to the pursuit of publication finding instruction was like walking through a desert. There was almost no information about how to go about getting published (this was prior to the internet). I remember buying my first issue of Writer’s Digest and literally digesting every page. I read the how-to articles over and over and marveled at the process of birthing a book into the world. When I realized…

Tis the Christmas season and where I live everything is covered in about six inches of snow. It would be beautiful if I didn’t hate the cold so much. Alas, it just gives me an excuse to stay inside and keep writing. I’m about ninety percent finished with my latest novel. A sci-fi adventure that takes place fifty years after humanity has driven off an invading alien force. I’ve been working on it for eleven months to the day and I hope to have it finished and…

Okay, now that my latest promotions are nearing their ends I can safely post my opinions of each of them. As I said from the start, I was trying something new with these latest promotions. Instead of booking one-day sponsorships for large amounts of money on some very popular websites I figured I’d try more long-term placements for less money and see how they fare.

   First I’d like to say that I have had some success with sites like Bookgorilla and…

I’m beginning to reach a point in my writer’s life where it seems that every day a new little surprise happens. Sometimes it’s a sudden, unexpected boost in sales of my books. Sometimes it’s being asked to be interviewed by local media or writer’s blogs. Sometimes it’s communicating with a world famous author on a personal level (which happened recently). And sometimes it’s just discovering someone has placed a great review of your work. Here’s another five-star review.…

Just checked my author page and I was very pleased to see another two, five-star reviews. One for my literary suspense, DROP OUT and the other for my paranormal, AFTER have been placed on Amazon. I don’t post my reviews to gloat or brag, and Lord knows very few of us authors are getting wealthy by writing; I post my reviews because I am proud of them.

In this era of authors swapping a review for a review…

If you follow my blog you know I’ve been trying a lot of the latest online marketing and promotion websites for writers. I started with four last week which are listed on my last post. So far, I have seen an increase in sales for DROP OUT, which is the book that I’m promoting most. Surprisingly, sales for my other books have also increased. I believe this is due to reader’s curiosity about my other material stemming from the marketing of DROP OUT.…

It’s that time of year again when I try many of the new marketing and promotional websites that have popped up and are available to authors and then my report on the results. So far, I’ve booked out $119.95 worth of services from four different sites for my suspense novel, DROP OUT. Here they are.

The first thing I tried was ebookbooster. For $25 the site sends your title and link to 25 sites that will promote it for free.…

I have had the opportunity to own and follow John Kremer’s book, 1001 Ways to Market Your Books, for several years.

To say it is an encyclopedia is to understate John’s importance. This book and his ancillary services speak volumes. You have only to open the book and choose one of the dozen ideas on each page. Apply it. Choose another.

Apply it. Do…

I woke up today to the first snowfall of the year. To some that brings joy, to others (like me) it brings dread. I’m a warm weather soul but I must admit that the cold weather does have some advantages. I get a heck of a lot more writing done.

Everyone knows that it’s tough to sit inside working on a story when the sun is shining bright and the birds are calling you to enjoy the outside. And even if you’re…

Like most authors when I’m writing a book I usually write a terrible first draft. Pages filled with scrawled ideas and bland dialogue. I work on this first draft non-stop, sometimes for weeks until I get a good solid manuscript-length of material. But there is one thing I never do, and that is to write the end of the book.

When about eighty-percent of the first draft is written I go back and re-read the…

Here’s a secret about books. They have their own power to transform. They don’t know if you’re rich or poor, beautiful or an ugly duckling, a wealthy doctor or a poor cabdriver, and they don’t care. A book will take you on an adventure whenever you’re ready, regardless of how you see yourself and as a bonus may even change the definitions. — Martha Carr, author of The List…

Does blogging sell books? This is the question every author who blogs wants an answer to. Well, I have my own opinion and I believe that the answer is yes, but not for the obvious reason of exposure.

   I believe authors who blog become better writers because unlike fiction, which requires the writer to immerse themselves into their imagination, blogging, which is mostly nonfiction, requires a…

It’s been said that a true writer will experience a multitude of dizzying highs and terrifying lows during the course of his or her lifetime. To make art, one must suffer whether mentally, spiritually, or monetarily to get the true juices-of-expression flowing.

I’ve been feeling a little down lately at the state of the publishing world and I know it’s shown in a few of my recent posts. I’ve been worried that the marketplace is over-saturated with…

Just wanted to let everyone know that my award winning novella DROP OUT is on sale through Ereader News Today for just $0.99.

Read what Kindle Nation Daily called “the sleeper hit of the year” what Kindle Fire Department called, “riveting, touching, and deeply heartwarming, a book that will stay with you forever”, an Indie Book of the Day winner, 19 five star reviews from all over the world.…

I have always loved stories. When I was a little kid my father asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. Without hesitation I happily replied, “A famous writer.” When I graduated high school and was applying to colleges my father asked me what I want to go to school for? I replied, “I want to be a famous writer.” To which he replied lovingly; “Better have a backup plan.” I spent four years majoring in psychology and philosophy.

When I graduated…