For book/ebook authors, publishers, & self-publishers
I’m often asked how I create my characters. At last count I have somewhat in the neighborhood of seventy-five to eighty relatively strong characters. By strong, I mean these characters actually have back stories and personalities that come across on the page. Some are absolutely terrifying, like Cody Larson in FROSTPROOF and Tommy Fielding in DEGENERATES. Some are adventurous, like Tim Madison in SILENT INVASION, and Jamie Richards in DREAM TRAVELER, and some are tragic, yet beautiful, like…
ContinueAdded by Neil Ostroff on May 6, 2012 at 7:06am — No Comments
Another fresh month is upon us and that means another start at zero for my books sales count. Last month ended pretty well with a last couple of days blitz that netted enough sales to reach my goals. However, it was a tough struggle, not helped by the fact that I was on vacation for nine days and did little in terms of marketing and promotion (not that I’m complaining). My sales goals for this month may be unreachable since I don’t have any sponsorships planned for this month. It’s going to…
ContinueAdded by Neil Ostroff on May 2, 2012 at 1:45pm — No Comments
I love the new cover for my Kindle version of FROSTPROOF. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m slowly taking back all my rights to my paperbacks and republishing only electronically. I believe the traditional book is going the way of CD’s and I’m excited to be at the threshold of this new medium. With my seventh novel soon to be published electronically, I’ve now got more than half of my books out there for the entire world to purchase. It’s a pretty cool feeling. Once I send the new FROSTPROOF off…
ContinueAdded by Neil Ostroff on April 28, 2012 at 10:46am — No Comments
Every once in a while I come across something that makes all the hard work trying to make it as a writer worth it. I’ve had these moments in the past, like when I discovered an article about me written in Italy and I had to have it translated just to read it. http://sftech.blog.tiscali.it/2012/01/16/vendere-ebook-un-caso-su-amazon/
Another was when KND praised DROP OUT as a sleeper hit.…
ContinueAdded by Neil Ostroff on April 26, 2012 at 11:10am — 1 Comment
That’s what Kindle Daily Nation called DROP OUT. http://fireapps.blogspot.com/2012/04/drop-out-kindle-book-of-day.html But then again, I’ve posted this many times and guess what… it’s still sleeping. Though the book is my best seller out of my six novels, it still hasn’t reached the great heights I had hoped. Right now I’m a few dozens copies behind my sales goals for this month, so for the next three days…
ContinueAdded by Neil Ostroff on April 23, 2012 at 12:10pm — No Comments
Back from vacation and had a great time. Too bad taking a vacation from writing and marketing didn’t do for my sales what it did for my soul (raise it to a higher level). As I mentioned before, it’s amazing how quickly your literary presence drops off when you’re not posting and promoting your books every day. While in the Florida Keys, I watched my blog hits drop like lead balloons and my book sales drop to November levels. Especially, in the U.K. which for me, sales this month have been…
ContinueAdded by Neil Ostroff on April 20, 2012 at 11:03am — No Comments
Those who follow my blog and my other posts on the numerous writer’s sites that I belong to, know that I am on vacation. So, instead of boring you with details of the fried Grouper sandwich I had for lunch and the long, saltwater swim I took after (waiting thirty minutes of course), I’m going to post a long sample of my current best selling book, DROP OUT. I’ve received more than a hundred emails from people telling me how much the book affected them and their views on the meaning of life.…
ContinueAdded by Neil Ostroff on April 14, 2012 at 1:14pm — No Comments
At this very moment, I am sitting on a veranda in Summerland Key Florida staring out at a vast expanse of glacial-clear, maroon-colored, water while whispering palm fronds provides the backdrop to seagull cries, and yet I cannot write. Well, that’s not exactly true because I am writing this, but I can’t seem to concentrate on my current novel. Perhaps, I’m too relaxed? Too contented? With the knowledge that my books are selling, I no longer feel that intense pressure to create for hours on…
ContinueAdded by Neil Ostroff on April 12, 2012 at 12:44pm — No Comments
Here is the link to my author spotlight on Kindle Nation Daily. It will be posted on Kids Corner's Facebook and Twitter this afternoon and on KND's Facebook and Twitter this evening. This interview will also be featured in the Kindle Daily Digest. I can’t wait to see what will happen to sales.
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ContinueAdded by Neil Ostroff on April 10, 2012 at 11:29am — No Comments
My Kindle ebook of the week sponsorship for the kid’s corner has begun. Sales are slow however, I’m guessing because of the Easter holiday. Perhaps, they will pick up more when my author spotlight interview comes out. That’s right, I was chosen for author spotlight on Kindle Nation Daily. This is a great FREE promotion offered by Kindle for me. They will post an interview, a picture of my book SILENT INVASION, links to buy the book, and links to my blog, all for nothing. They claim the…
ContinueAdded by Neil Ostroff on April 9, 2012 at 12:50pm — No Comments
“A sleeper hit”, that’s what the reviewer on Kindle Fire Department said about DROP OUT. Well, when is it going to wake up? Seriously, the Kindle Fire sponsorship has been the only sponsorship so far that has made back its cost. I’ve also achieved half of my sales goals for the month of April and it’s only the 5th. I’m not sure what made this sponsorship such a success but I think it has to do with my previous notion that not enough kids own Kindles, yet. DROP OUT is an adult book…
ContinueAdded by Neil Ostroff on April 5, 2012 at 1:52pm — No Comments
Well, my second free promotion for INSECTLAND didn’t go hardly how I thought. I only sold a measly 75 copies for the giveaway, which leads me to wonder if the rumors are true about the KDP select free promotions; that mostly book hoarders download the books and not read them. And that the same few hundred book hoarders download whatever becomes available. It would explain the low numbers. The last free promotion for INSECTLAND yielded hundreds and hundreds of downloads. I’ll guess I’ll never…
ContinueAdded by Neil Ostroff on April 2, 2012 at 12:02pm — No Comments
Just wanted to let everyone know that my sci-fi adventure INSECTLAND is now free until Monday. And if you like it please check out my blog and other books for sale. Thanks. http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com
Imagine a world where humans are pests and insect-like aliens rule over them. Imagine that world is Earth.
INSECTLAND
Be frightened! Be very frightened! Tiny, dragon-like creatures hiding in our…
ContinueAdded by Neil Ostroff on March 31, 2012 at 10:12am — No Comments
Just about everybody has lottery fever right now with Mega Millions jackpot over $500,000,000 dollars. And just like everybody else, I’ve been daydreaming all morning about what I’d do if I win. (I’ve got $20 in quick picks). I could fulfill every dream I ever had. Buy big houses, a yacht, a private jet. Eat the best food prepared by master chefs. Would that make me happy? Of course. But what if I had all that and stopped writing? What if having every desired fulfilled drained me of the…
ContinueAdded by Neil Ostroff on March 30, 2012 at 12:10pm — No Comments
Continuing my series on effective query letters that got interest in my books by industry professionals, I’m posting the original query letter for DEGENERATES that drew huge interest several years ago before anyone had heard of Kindle and ebooks. I had several agents request the entire manuscript from this query and it is this query that got my first power agent Gary Heidt really interested in my work. As I’ve posted before, Gary eventually signed me after reading the query for SILENT…
ContinueAdded by Neil Ostroff on March 27, 2012 at 2:11pm — No Comments
I woke up this morning and like every morning, the first thing I did after brushing my teeth and washing my face is go down to my office, wake my computer, and check my sales on KDP. Lo and behold, AFTER is moving copies. I also sold a few copies of INSECTLAND, DROP OUT, and SILENT INVASION, but AFTER is the winner today by far. So, I started thinking what I could have done differently the last few days that attracted the extra attention. I really haven’t been concentrating much on AFTER…
ContinueAdded by Neil Ostroff on March 24, 2012 at 10:48am — No Comments
Okay, for all my new followers, here’s the raw deal of what I’ve done in the way of promotions in the last four months and what the results are. First were the fiver ads on fiver.com. For five bucks people put your books and links on their blogs and websites. I did about fifteen different blogs with little result. My advice; don’t waste that hard earned five bucks. Then I did the article service where an article is ghost-written for you and then sent to thousands of journal sites and logs.…
ContinueAdded by Neil Ostroff on March 22, 2012 at 2:23pm — No Comments
With all the hoopla surrounding my KDP select issue I almost forgot that one of my sponsorships started today. Here is the link for SILENT INVASION’s Frugal Ereader Book of the Day. http://thefrugalereader.com/2012/03/20/the-frugal-find-of-the-day-silent-invasion-neil-ostroff-1-99-or-borrow-free-with-prime/ I signed up for this sponsorship because it…
ContinueAdded by Neil Ostroff on March 20, 2012 at 2:40pm — No Comments
Well, I got my issue with KDP select solved… kinda. In a panic over the email I received, I quickly unpublished all my books from Smashwords, including my six that are in the premium catalog. I figured the trade-off was worth it considering I sell about five times as many books through Amazon. I also de-selected the automatic renewal for KDP select just in case any heat came down about my books being on Smashwords. Here’s the kicker. I got an email earlier today from KDP informing me that…
ContinueAdded by Neil Ostroff on March 18, 2012 at 2:05pm — No Comments
I just received a form email from KDP informing me that my titles on the select program were also discovered being sold by about a half a dozen different outlets, including Kobo and Nook. They gave me the sites to check out, which actually is pretty cool that my books are so readily available now, but also informed me that I was not following the policy. Now, I absolutely do not want to piss off Amazon and it’s too late to have Smashwords remove all my titles from all the sites, so I figured…
ContinueAdded by Neil Ostroff on March 16, 2012 at 1:27pm — No Comments
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