B and B, New Release by Christine Meunier

by Christine

Hi everyone! As authors, it is exciting for us when things finally culminate in the release of a new book. The writing, editing, seeking feedback, cover design and other odds and ends have all come together to create a finished product.

And I have been blessed to experience that once again, quite recently. My latest release is a novel for adult readers. It is a horse based, Christian romance. Interested? Here’s the blurb for B and B:

Things are changing…
Ben likes his life at Happy Trails. As a trail guide on a property in Australia he doesn’t have to work hard to make friends. All he needs to do is make sure his clients are safe on their horses and have an enjoyable ride.
Ben can manage that. He loves that he can work with horses all day, every day. The humans are an added annoyance but he only has to deal with them in short bouts.
The new cook hired for the farm looks like she could be a complication. Ben is averse to change and he is certain her arrival means change.

Brooke knows the trial position as cook at Happy Trails is a blessing. She needs a job to support herself and her daughter – the fact that she can cook for an income is an added bonus.
If she can just avoid the interest of trail guide and jokester Jake, she’ll be fine. After all, she isn’t interested in a new male in her life. She just wants to focus on her daughter and make a future for them.

B and B is available for purchase on Kindle at Amazon. You can check it out by clicking the picture in this post. Why not add it to your Goodreads, to be read list?

What equine book release are you eagerly anticipating?

Seeking Reviews for (New) Releases

by Christine.

It’s exciting to release a new novel – all of your invested time, hard work and research has come together!

It can be disappointing to release your book and find that nothing is then happening; people may be reading, but you aren’t seeing any feedback in the form of reviews.  Seeking reviews for your novel can be a great way to increase anticipation of a story, to give you feedback and to gain new readers.

My Debut Novel, Horse Country

If you have the patience and organisation to be able to send out review copies prior to your book’s release date, you can be rewarded with reviews on the date, or even before the book is available for sale.  This can be a great way to build interest and boost sales.

Alternatively, you can set a competition (on your website, Goodreads or Facebook page) and provide free copies to a limited number of readers on release date on the condition that they provide an honest review.

If approaching people about reviews, consider:

-         Have they reviewed other books in a similar genre?

-         Are they likely to enjoy your story?

-         Do they ‘consume’ books, resulting in a quick review after you’ve provided the story to read?

-         Will they post on mediums you require, e.g. Goodreads, Amazon, LibraryThing, a personal website?

Many readers love to receive a book prior to it’s release date and will work hard to have it read and reviewed for you as an author, in time for your much anticipated release.  Consider the value that seeking out reviews can provide for your latest release – or even an older release that needs a boost!

What book have you had the privilege of reading prior to release day?  Interested in reading Christine's next adult horse fiction due for release in 2016? Leave a message!

Marketing Yourself as an Author

by Christine.

There are incredible resources online today that authors can use to sell their products, promote themselves and acquire new readers.  As an aspiring author or one who has many novels under their belt, are you using all that you can?

There are more than I am aware of, but I thought I’d list some here and their associated benefits:

• Goodreads
  So many people today are keeping track of what they’ve read, what they thought, and what they would recommend.  As an author, you can add your books to the Goodreads database, list them in appropriate lists (e.g. best horse series), offer giveaways to promote your latest release and best of all, create an author page where all of your public works are listed.
  This list allows people to mark them as read, rate them out of 5, leave a review and even mark down that they want to read your books in the future!  If you’re not using this feature yet and have published works, I encourage you to look into it. 
• Amazon
  Again, you can have an author profile and list all of the books that are authored by you.  Your profile can also include a biography, photo, recent blog posts from your own blog feed and Twitter updates.  It’s a great way for fans to keep in touch with your latest news and books.
  As an added bonus, if you have your books on Amazon, you can keep tabs on monthly sales, see how your book/s are faring on the best sellers lists and get reviews and ratings from purchasers. 
•  
  
• Authorgraph
  This is a nifty way to interact with your fans for free and offer them something they may not have the chance to request in person – an autograph!  The images of the covers of your published works are made available and you can create an autograph that is then placed across any of these images that a fan may request.
  For example, a reader of Horse Country – A World of Horses may fancy a signed copy of the cover from Christine Meunier.  Authorgraph is set up so that your signature is created by you and then saved – this is then sent out whenever you approve a request from a fan.  You can also personalise messages! 
• Lulu
  If you are interested in creating paperback versions of your books, then I encourage you to check out this print on demand set up.  Lulu’s service is free to set things up – they can even help you out with book formatting, ISBNs for free and cover creation.
  You can determine if your books are available to yourself only, to only those who you invite or to the general public.  And from here, you can submit your works into bigger selling networks like Amazon and Barnes and Noble – all for free!
  They make their money through earning a percentage of your profit whenever a sale is made, not before.
  Once you have books set up on Lulu, you can set up your own author store and provide a biography, links, profile image and of course details of your released paperbacks.  You don’t have to pay to have your books printed (except for proof copies), but instead they are only printed when people order them (print on demand).  It’s a great way to cater to the one off buyers all around the world without making a dent in your pocket!

What author platform do you use that has benefited you greatly in the form of sales, reaching out to fans or keeping people updated on your latest releases?

Know Your Audience

by Christine

The latest book in the Free Rein Series

I have all of my books available on Kindle.  It’s great to be able to download the sales and lender reports each month and view which books have been purchased and from which country.

I am an Australian author and as such, my Free Rein series focuses on three young girls who have ponies in Victoria, Australia.  There are a lot of horse terms in Australia that readers from other countries may not be familiar with.  One such example is the word agistment.

Children’s author Deanie Humphrys-Dunne was kind enough to read and review one of the books in the series and separately she emailed me and suggested an inclusion of terms to my books.  The idea was that readers could turn to this and find the definition of such terms if they weren’t familiar with them.

This is a great recommendation that could improve my readers’ reading experience!  This is particularly so because my Kindle sales indicate that around 95% of my readers come from the United States and the United Kingdom.  I have now added an Australian Terms page to my Free Rein series website so that readers can do a bit of learning whilst finding out the latest Free Rein news.

What recommendation have you had regarding your writing that you’ve acted upon?

Why Amazon Rating Stars Are Like Dressage Scores

by Lisa Trovillion

When my book came out I compulsively checked the reviews on Amazon, tracking the number of stars.   Phew! Still in the 5-star range...that's good.  Or is it?  Star ratings are highly subjective, and like a numbered score for a movement in a dressage test, they are an artificial indication of what the rater wants to impart. You've got to read the narrative.

I've seen star ratings range from very low to five without much written to support the score.  And that's where the real meaningful information is found.  A less than five rating in Amazon may be accompanied by one of the best reviews your book has ever received.  There is something to be said for a book that is receiving ratings that run the gamut; It's more likely they were written by real readers and not just "friends and family."  Like it or not, we can't please them all!

Similarly, I would snatch my dressage test after a ride and immediately run my eyes down to the bottom right corner to check the final score.  Okay, that's human.  But what I was missing was the insightful and often helpful comments accompanying the score for each phase of the test.  Those comments, often complimentary, may have received only a luke warm score.  The horse showed promise and was executing the movement correctly--only lacking impulsion or some other fine point that could be corrected in the next go around or the next show opportunity.  Same as the criticism of a story.  Take heed, because sometimes the more critical comments have something to offer (as much as we all hate to hear it.)

Although dressage judges are professionals who have studied in order to wash away all subjectivity and to produce scores based on a standardized ideal, since they are human we know this standard does not really exist.  How many of us have chosen to show before a particular judge because she likes your type of horse or because she is generous with the "nines"?  I'll admit it.  As for readers, well, there's no real standardized ideal story, but there are elements of each and every novel that a reader will look for: conflict, characterization, pace, setting, making them care, etc. If they don't find it, they might call you out on it, and sadly, we can't always pick our readers/reviewers like we pick our judges.

I'm giving myself this lecture because I know I need it.  I need to grow a thick skin and possess a brave heart.  Putting a novel out there for any and all to review is scarier than riding down center line for a tough judge on a horse fresh off the racetrack.