NEW YEAR, NEW GOALS
January 5, 2018 by Tracy Reed in category WritingHappy New Year.
I’m almost embarrassed to admit I have yet to write my goals for the new year. Okay, that may not necessarily be the truth. I have a few things I want to accomplish this year, I just haven’t committed them to paper. There’s a scripture I like and keep posted near my computer…Habakkuk 2:2-3, “And the Lord answered me: Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he who reads it may run. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it delays, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay.”
I cherish this scripture. Yet, last year when I made my goal list, I failed to really consult myself and God. I heard a joke that went something like this, “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.” I’m pretty sure I gave God a lot of things to laugh about last year.
I started out 2017 with these grandiose plans. I was going to write something like 7 books, a couple of novellas, 3 non-fiction books and 5 flash fiction pieces. Ha, Ha, Ha. I forgot I had just come off a very busy year…12 Titles in 12 Months. I foolishly thought it would be easy to complete the task I wrote out. I did good to get two titles out last year.
Midway through 2017, I realized a very important fact, I was tired. I had worked so hard the previous year, that I was mentally burned out. Funny thing, all while I was doing the challenge, I was fine. I had ideas bouncing off the sides of my brain. Seems like when I got to December and hit publish on my last title, my brain said, “Now I can rest.”
Although I published 12 Titles in 2016, I had written a little more. [I’m not going to rehash the project, you can visit past posts for details.] I wrote a book for my lingerie business, plus I had started two other books. One with 5,000+ words and the other with 3,600+ words. I really thought I was going to complete those books, but they just didn’t make it. Plus I was approximately thirty percent away from completion on the book I’m releasing this month, which was supposed to release last month. Insert God laughing here.
How did I fair out with my 2017 goals? I figuratively burned the production schedule and vowed to commit to complete one novel and my non-fiction book. We won’t even discuss the personal things on the list I wanted to accomplish. Thank God for another year and opportunity to start over.
Back to my 2018 writing goals. A couple of days ago, after meeting with my accountability group, I took a long look at my production schedule. I deleted anything that hadn’t been started or wasn’t the next book in a series and added the books that were completed but weren’t quite ready to be released last year. Boldly pressing the delete key left me with a very scary production schedule.
When I did my challenge, instead of writing books in one or two series, I wrote the first or second books, and some stand alone novellas. The titles were well received. However, I started getting emails from people asking “What happens next?”. Holy crap. I like writing cliff hangers and books setting up the next book. So when I looked at my schedule I knew what I had to do, “Write, a lot.”
My proposed 2018 Production Schedule is scary. If I can muster up the create juices and energy, I’ll finish the year with nine titles. Don’t call the crazy writer police on me just yet. I said “titles”. Here’s how things look.
Title One : Completed, and releasing at the end of the month
Title Two: Completed, needs to be set up as an ebook
Title Three: Completed, it’s a print only book, so I need to review the proof
Title Four: Completed, needs a major edit
Title Five: 30% complete
Titles Six – Nine: Need to be written
It’s not as bad as it seems. I have learned my lesson. If I see where something needs to be pushed back, I’ll do it.
Back to the scripture I mentioned earlier. I believe in writing down goals because it seems when you write things down, you give life to them. However, in order for them to grow they need to be nourished and that’s where I failed. I was too tired to nourish my goals.
I know things will be better this year, because I’ve started talking to my characters as well as eavesdropping on their conversations. Could it be, they needed a break from me last year?
Well, whatever the reason for a slightly less productive 2017, I feel like 2018 will be booming with stories to tell.
I’ll keep you posted. Here’s to an amazingly creative writing year.
2 0 Read moreHappy Writing Anniversary and Happy Holidays by @readtracyread
December 5, 2017 by Tracy Reed in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed tagged as book covers, publishing, writing
Happy Writing Anniversary and Happy Holidays
I’m going to keep this short and sweet because, I know you are probably swamped with holiday preparations and those end of year releases. Congratulations to everyone and their releases this year and the many that will be born next year. The gift of writing is an amazing blessing and one we should never take for granted, but honored to share.
Last year, I took on a huge project, 12 Titles in 12 Months. The reality was, it was thirteen titles. I often forget about one of the books, because it’s not available to the public, because I use it for my lingerie business.
To this day, I’m not exactly sure what I was thinking taking on such a huge project. Trust me it wasn’t for vanity. However, there was a book I really wanted to include in the challenge but it just didn’t happen…DESPERATE DESIRE. Cori, I refer to my books by the heroine’s name. It’s like men with their cars. I think it makes them seem more real.
So, Cori’s story is the third installment in the Generational Curse series. It was my intention to share her story this month, on the anniversary of her sister Kyla’s story, Generational Curse, but life happened. I heard someone say, if you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plan.
Once I got over the disappointment of my plan not coming to fruition, I pushed the release date back a month. The push back was very necessary, because I needed to make a few changes. I write books that have a faith message and/or Christians struggling with their walk. Cori and her husband are Christians, however he’s having an affair and she’s contemplating doing like wise. As if that wasn’t tragic enough, I gave her a few vices, erotica, weed and expensive whiskey. So when I looked at the original cover, it didn’t work.
I got the original cover image for this book a few years ago. No, that’s not a typo. I originally bought the image when I was shopping for images for book one…Generational Curse. I wanted a consistent look with the series and the original was nice. I ran it through a series of changes in Photoshop and it was done. Then something happened, I was working on the website for my other business and found myself with an image I could no longer use. I didn’t want to just cast the image to the side, but thought it would make a nice cover. I did a little tweaking and when I finished, I knew that was the image for Desperate Desire.
Although this book is part of a series, it has the personality of a stand alone. The original cover was similar to it’s predecessor, however, the new one really spoke of the heroine’s personality and her journey to discovering love. Next month I’ll do the cover reveal and share more of Cori’s story.
So as I prepare to celebrate the holidays, I’m also celebrating the third anniversary of my first book, GENERATIONAL CURSE and preparing to release my nineteenth title. Wow…now ain’t that something.
Happy Holidays
Tracy Reed
A California native, novelist Tracy Reed pushes the boundaries of her Christian foundation with her sometimes racy and often fiery tales.
After years of living in the Big Apple, this self proclaimed New Yorker draws from the city’s imagination, intrigue, and inspiration to cultivate characters and plot lines who breathe life to the words on every page.
Tracy’s passion for beautiful fashion and beautiful men direct her vivid creative power towards not only novels, but short stories, poetry, and podcasts. With something for every attention span.
Tracy Reed’s ability to capture an audience is unmatched. Her body of work has been described as a host of stimulating adventures and invigorating expression.
https://www.facebook.com/readtracyreed
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/tracy-reed
https://www.instagram.com/readtracyreed/
Unexpected Love Launch Results by @readtracyreed
November 5, 2017 by Tracy Reed in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed, Writing: It's a Business tagged as ARGroups, Facebook Ads, Marc Dawson, MarketingI want to thank Marianne Donley for the cool graphic she put on my last post. I thought it only befitting to use it again this month on part two.
Where do I start? Last month I was in the midst of launching a book with a new campaign strategy. I want to make it perfectly clear, I am not trying to sell you on one of Mark Dawson’s courses. Although, I do like the results I got on my last launch.
So here’s what happened.
In the past when I launched a book, I didn’t really do any kind of pre-promotion. I would book a couple of ads, alert my mailing list, put the book out at full price and hope for the best. This time, I sent the book to my ARGroup, asked for reviews, forgot to book the ads pre-launch and launched it at 99¢.
My ARGroup had 20 people, but one dropped out after she read the book. Yes, I was a lot ticked off. But I went back to her acceptance email and remembered, she wanted me to pay her. I sent her a nice email expressing my sadness in her leaving the group. However, someone else joined. I had a little glitch getting the book out and pushed the date back. I got excited when some of my ARGroup emailed asking when could they post, because they really enjoyed the book. That made me feel good.
[tweetshare tweet=”@readtracyreed Unexpected Book Launch Results ” username=”@A_SliceofOrange”]
Every step up to the release day, I kept the group informed. I sent the new cover, asked them if they would buy a copy to help me in the rankings and graphics for the book to keep them engaged in the launch process. I wanted to make sure I kept the momentum going.
Launch day, I had 7 US reviews and 1 international. That was a first for me. I’ve never released a book with reviews. I was hoping for ten, but this was great.
As for sales. This was the first time, I sold 100 copies in the first week. For some people that’s probably what they do in the first day, but for me that was huge. I missed the top 100 in one of my categories by 24 on launch day. I have had books release with a top 100 category ranking, but none with a sell through like this one.
Promotion wise, I forgot to book ads for the launch. I was upset at first, and then I remembered, I wanted my list to have first dibs at the special price. I waited about ten days before putting the price up. I hoped for the best and was treated to a continued stream of sales.
It wasn’t until after the soft launch that I ran two facebook ads. I mentioned earlier that I had already made some facebook ads. When I tested the ads, the feedback wasn’t great. However, I used those for my social media and mailing list reminders. And used the ads below for FB instead.
In the beginning the male ad was doing very well. Then the female ad clicked and took off. At the end of the month, the female add had out done the male. Let me back up, when I noticed the way the ads were going, I was very tempted to shut down the male ad, but I didn’t because something happened. I did something else I had never done…I used an affiliate link. I put an affiliate link on my book on my website and used that as the link in the ad. I started getting sales which I knew were from the FB ads. However, I wasn’t sure which ad was producing the sales. That’s why I never shut the weaker ad down.
I think this was the first time in a while all my titles had steady sell-thru at the same time. It’s exciting to see a sales report with numbers not zeroes next to all the titles. Again for some of you this is your normal, but for me, it wasn’t. YEAH!!!
I was very pleased with the results and believe if I had done everything according to Mark’s suggested plan, I would have done even better.
Let’s see what happens with my next release. Happy Thanksgiving.
Tracy
A California native, novelist Tracy Reed pushes the boundaries of her Christian foundation with her sometimes racy and often fiery tales.
After years of living in the Big Apple, this self proclaimed New Yorker draws from the city’s imagination, intrigue, and inspiration to cultivate characters and plot lines who breathe life to the words on every page.
Tracy’s passion for beautiful fashion and beautiful men direct her vivid creative power towards not only novels, but short stories, poetry, and podcasts. With something for every attention span.
Tracy Reed’s ability to capture an audience is unmatched. Her body of work has been described as a host of stimulating adventures and invigorating expression.
https://www.facebook.com/readtracyreed
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/tracy-reed
https://www.instagram.com/readtracyreed/
Unexpected Launch by @readtracyreed
October 5, 2017 by Tracy Reed in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed tagged as book funnel, goodreads, Marketing, New book release
Unexpected….there are a lot of things that happen in life that are “unexpected.” My latest release, UNEXPECTED LOVE, was completely unexpected. I’ve talked about this book in a previous post [UNEXPECTED NOVEL, JULY 2017].
Since then, I did a cover change and set out to try a new launch plan. First step in my new launch plan, setting up an ARGroup [HOW I SET UP MY FIRST ARGROUP, SEPTEMBER 2017]. I didn’t realize how valuable an ARGroup could be.
On October 3rd, I released my 17th title. Let me step back and do a happy dance and a HUGE PRAISE GOD! Okay, now on to my post. I have been taking the Mark Dawson courses on Self-Publishing and one of the sessions described a new release launch sequence. I figured I’d try it. I’ve release a few books and thought I was doing a decent job, however, I didn’t realize I could have done better.
A little more than thirty days ago, I asked my mailing list for ARGroup members. I got a few volunteers, which I am very grateful for.
According to Mark’s Launch Sequence, 30 days out, I needed to send my book to my ARGroup. I missed that by a couple of weeks because of a few tweaks. Once I sent the email out, I made it very clear what I wanted. Mark said he found it a little difficult to ask for reviews. Me too. It almost felt like I was begging, but there’s a scripture that says, “…you have not, because you ask not…James 4:2” This was very true. It never really occurred to me to ask for reviews without some sort of compensation [i.e., giveaway, treat, etc.]. As I wrote the email detailing what I needed, I really did feel uneasy, but that was because it was foreign to me.
In the past when I released a book, I never did it with ANY reviews. Nor did I release at a special price. My previous launch plan was, a cover reveal about a week before release day. Then an email to my mailing list, post it on all my social media, book a couple of ads, possibly a guest post and a lot of prayer.
Here’s how I made Mark’s plan work for me.
Day -30
Send manuscript to ARGroup via Book Funnel.
Cover Reveal Email to Mailing List [see revised cover.]
Day -30 to -7
Make any changes based on comments. [There were a few things changed. I had two characters with the same name. One was a first name and the other was a second name.]
Day -7
Final proof read
Book launch promotion [I decided to wait until I had reviews before placing ads. I did post to my social media. Elena Dillion helped me design some graphics I could use on my social media and eventually as Facebook Ads. See below.]
Email mailing list with an excerpt
Tease about a launch contest [I opted to do a Goodreads Giveaway which I set up to run during the hard launch phase. Three signed copies. In the past, I’ve had pretty good results with the giveaways.]
Day -1
Upload to all relevant platforms [I’ve opted to go wide, so my book is on 
Send and email to list announcing new release…build a little drama with one of my graphics.
Day 1
“Soft Launch”
Email Advance Group that book is live and ask for reviews [This has been very exciting. During my soft launch phase, my ARGroup is responding very well. As of this posting, my team has posted 6 reviews, 5 Amazon US and 1 Amazon CA. I have never released a book with reviews. This was the most difficult part, because I really wanted to by a couple of ads. But now that I have a few reviews, I’m in a better position for promotional ads.]
Ask for 99c sales – State why the sales would be helpful
Day 2
[This is where I am as of writing this. In one of my Amazon categories with my ARGroup’s reviews, I started the day in the 120s in one of my categories. YEAH!]
Keep track on sales and traction. or once you’ve reached your review goal. If it’s great, switch price to regular price.
“Hard Launch” [My plan is to start my AMS Ads at this point. I’ve been doing very well with AMS Ads. I like the results. AMS Ads are a little tricky. I’m currently running three. One is costing me money. However, it’s getting me sales I don’t think I would have gotten otherwise. The other two are making money. I’m curious to see how this new ad will work.]
Email your list the book is live
Day 7
“Mop Up” email to people who haven’t opened the first email. Thank them for the great launch.
Day 14
“Second Mop Up” Email
If you’re moving the price up, let them know in this email [I’m moving my price up earlier in the process.]
Close Launch contest [this signifies the end of a launch]
I’ll let you know how this worked for me. See you next month. Happy Fall.
Tracy
A California native, novelist Tracy Reed pushes the boundaries of her Christian foundation with her sometimes racy and often fiery tales.
After years of living in the Big Apple, this self proclaimed New Yorker draws from the city’s imagination, intrigue, and inspiration to cultivate characters and plot lines who breathe life to the words on every page.
Tracy’s passion for beautiful fashion and beautiful men direct her vivid creative power towards not only novels, but short stories, poetry, and podcasts. With something for every attention span.
Tracy Reed’s ability to capture an audience is unmatched. Her body of work has been described as a host of stimulating adventures and invigorating expression.
https://www.facebook.com/readtracyreed
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/tracy-reed
https://www.instagram.com/readtracyreed/
How I Set Up My First ARGroup
September 5, 2017 by Tracy Reed in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed tagged as Advanced Reading Group, email marketing, reviews
I am finally doing something I should have done a while ago…set up an Advance Reader Group.
I made a poor first attempt at this about a year ago. I say poor, because only one person responded. I’m not sure why the response was so poor, but it was.
This time, I’m attacking ARGroup recruitment a lot differently. Instead of a small mention in my newsletter, I did a mass mailing to my entire mailing list. I reviewed ARGroup requests from other authors and came up with one that worked for my brand. [See below]
______________________________
Wanna Join My AR Group?
Advance Reader Group Request
Do you love my books and want more?
You can join my advance team and read them FREE. ARC reviewers play a huge role in the success of an author’s books and I hope you’ll be part of that success by joining the team.
What is an Advance Reader Copy (ARC) and why is it so important to authors?
Prior to publication, select readers will receive an early copy of my work — Advance Reading Copy (ARC) — before it is available for mass distribution. These ARCs are sent out for free in exchange for an honest review of the book.
Publishers and authors know that reviews are the best way to spread the word about a book. After all, you tend to trust the opinions of fellow book lovers.
When reviews are posted to Amazon in the first week of a book’s release, it’s an amazing thing for an author. It’ s like finding that perfect pair of black pumps.
What does it mean to join my Advance Review Group?
It means you get to read my books for FREE before I release them to the world.
Group Rules:
- •Honesty before ratings.
- •Read the books by the deadline. You are not signing up for free books that you’ll eventually read.
- •Members who fail to post in a timely fashion will forfeit their access to the group.
- •Members must email links to their reviews to maintain their access to the group.
- •Members…please follow me on social media.
- •You must know how to open .mobi, .epub, or .pdf files.
- •You must join my mailing list.
Sounds good. How do I join?
There’s just two steps to join my Advance Reader Team.
1. To qualify, if you haven’t already done so, you must read one of my books and post the review on Amazon.com and Goodreads. (I can’t give out unlimited ARCs, so I need to know I can count on you to give thoughtful, honest reviews).
2. Send me a message [tracyreedwriter@icloud.com] to let me know you want to join my Advance Review Team and include the links to your reviews on Amazon.com (Do this by clicking on your name under the star rating of your review. This will take you to all your Amazon reviews. Click on the review of my book and send me that specific link). I’ll follow up with you from there.
Here’s a little incentive. If you respond by August 31st, you can read my upcoming release “Unexpected Love” before everyone else.
Hope to hear from you,
Tracy
______________________________
I sent this email out twice. I’d like to say everyone signed up, but they didn’t. Instead, 33 people unsubscribed from my list. I got twenty recruits to my ARGroup. YEAH! I’m so excited. Another great thing that happened, reviews. I picked up a few reviews. Another reason to cheer.
Once I received the initial sign ups, I sent out a Thank you email. I wanted my readers to know how much I appreciate them and their participation. [See below] As you can see, I gave them an option to bow out.
______________________________
Welcome To My ARGroup
I’m so excited to have you on this ride with me. Thank you for posting your reviews. I really appreciate your honesty. Which leads me to a little review about the group rules.
Group Rules:
- •Honesty before ratings.
- •Read the books by the deadline. You are not signing up for free books that you’ll eventually read.
- •Members who fail to post in a timely fashion will forfeit their access to the group.
- •Members must email links to their reviews to maintain their access to the group.
- •Members…please follow me on social media.
- •You must know how to open .mobi, .epub, or .pdf files.
- •You must join my mailing list.
- •Do not share Advance Copies.
Please confirm your acceptance to the group with an email to: tracyreedwriter@icloud.com. This step is just in case you’ve changed your mind about joining the group and don’t want to participate. If I don’t get a confirmation email, I’ll assume you’ve changed your mind about joining the group.
Tracy
______________________________
See you next month.
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