Neil Ostroff's Blog (390)

Though I’ve touched on this subject before on my blog I think it warrants repeating. I will never pay someone to read and review one of my books. Period! Most paid reviewers give glowing reviews on the books they read even if the book is not up to par. Why? Because they want your money and repeat business. Think about it. Would you pay someone a second…

          I’m often asked by media and friends how do I create my characters? At last count I have somewhere in the neighborhood of over one hundred spread over my nine published and three unpublished books. These characters have detailed histories and vivid personalities. Some are absolutely terrifying, some are…

After breaking contract with a prominent NY literary agency nearly four years ago to pursue the ebook/indie publishing revolution I can now confidently say I know what it takes to sell books. This revelation comes after spending thousands of dollars on every marketing and promotional tool, sponsorship, and gimmick available. I can say that although some of these applications yielded modest sales, nothing compares to the secret I’m about to reveal. So here it…

I read an article recently defining what it meant to be an Amazon bestselling author these days. Keep in mind this is an Amazon bestseller not a New York Times bestseller. The general rule is if your book sells between 150-500 copies in a twenty-four hour period its ranking can get low enough that it can be considered a bestseller.

That said, I am an Amazon bestselling author three times this year. Once in…

I’ve been doing a lot of marketing/promotion lately for my books and have come up with a “must-be-on” list for writers who want to promote their books. These website provide free services that can really get your books noticed. There are many other sites out there but I highly recommend you concentrate your marketing efforts on these. If you check their…

The Ereader News Today http://ereadernewstoday.com/more-bargain-and-free-books-for-2-21-14/6741206/ feature yielded very nice results and I sold enough copies of DROP OUT to hit below 1,500 ranking in the entire Kindle store yesterday. I highly recommend all authors give this site a try. It…

Today is the day of my Eareader News Today promo spot. Last time ENT featured my book it went to #176 in the entire Kindle paid store and briefly #1 in the romantic suspense department. Of course, that was only for a few hours. But what a thrill.

   Here is the link to the site. Please check it out and I urge all authors to submit their books to ENT. They only get a small percentage of your sales and make no money if your book doesn’t sell through…

My father always told me that it's okay to make mistakes, it's how you learn. Well, I'm about to tell you the mistakes I've made while marketing and promoting my books so that you don't have to go through the same mistakes when you market and promote your own books. I'll put them in list form so it's easier to digest.…

When you’re as active on writer’s sites as I am you occasionally receive what I like to call a little gift from the creative spirit. Case in point, yesterday when I received notice that one of my posts on Kindle Direct Publishing forum was tweeted by them.

https://twitter.com/AmazonKDP/status/432538128570523648

I…

In the nearly three years that my blog ALWAYS WRITING  http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com  has been active, I’ve seen my following grow and my hit counter exceed 250,000. I’ve tried to provide valuable writing and publishing advice based on my own trials,…

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.

* * *…

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.

 …

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…