Alex Apostol

Book Review: A Whole New World by Liz Braswell

October 4, 2021

book reviews
I read this one after Aurora and Belle’s story even though it’s the first in the series. Not that it really matters since they’re all independent stories. I have to admit I read through a lot of the reviews on Goodreads before finishing this story because of its so-so rating. I was enjoying it and I wanted to see why others weren’t. I don’t know if the book has been updated since I bought it or not but I saw a lot of readers complaining about the lack of cultural research for the book and the over mentioning of baklava. I didn’t notice that at all. If anything they mentioned baguettes a lot.

Characters

Another common complaint was that the characters were surface or shallow. I can see why they would say this but let’s be real. You didn’t pick up a Disney teen novel for the depth of character. You picked it up because you already love the characters from the movies and you want to be entertained. There were a few characters added in that weren’t in the movie; the street rats and thieves. I liked this glimpse deeper into Aladdin’s world and upbringing. I think the author did a good job of showing us a new side of Aladdin, which in turn gave him some depth. But besides seeing his youth and world of Street Rats in a new light, Jasmine was really the focus of the story

Story

In my opinion, this book was very entertaining. I liked the theme of an uprising and how Jasmine filled the role of strong female lead. I was glad this was also my first Fall time read because it turns out it has a creep factor to it as well that I’m a fan of; ZOMBIES! Maybe that’s why I liked the story so much. Of the three I’ve read, Belle’s story is still my favorite but this was better than Aurora’s story. A lot of people complained about how the first 25% of the book was basically a novelization of the original movie, but I kind of like that. It was nostalgic but also was more descriptive and in-depth than watching a movie.

If you like Disney and Aladdin and don’t have high expectations of having your life changed by this book but simply to be entertained then this is for you!
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Author Spotlight: Jennifer Peer

September 30, 2021

Author Spotlight
Today I want to introduce Jennifer Peer! Jennifer, tell us a little about yourself.

Writing allows me the freedom to express my creative side and love of all things romantic; and I do enjoy everything about that first moment of attraction leading to the next. There is a never-ending supply of love stories out there waiting to be told. I like to intersperse them with a little edge since I also love a good thriller.

I have two big addictions- Numero uno is my Corgi Dexter. He is my shadow, and it only takes one look from him to make me smile. He is a bit of a goofball.

Next is coffee in any format. We’re talking beans, drinks, chocolate, etc. It doesn’t matter if it is hot or cold, with cream, sugar or black- I just love the smell and flavor.

Full disclosure, I may also be a little addicted to candles and of course- books.

I am with you there on the coffee front! And books, of course. That goes without saying. I have a black cat named Bob who is my best friend and that’s not at all weird for an adult female to claim, is it? (haha) So, what genre(s) do you write in?

I write romantic suspense, although I am currently working on a new Paranormal Romantic Suspense Series.

I love me some paranormal books! Are you traditionally published, independently published, or both?

My first novel, True Beginnings, was an Indie Publication. My newest release, The Last Bloom, is a traditional release through Boroughs Publishing Group. It was just released on August 10th.

What made you choose the publishing path you’re on?

I chose to publish on a traditional track this time to see if the experience would be better for me. I knew that I would learn a lot by going through a house and to be honest, I needed to learn a lot. It was also a different experience for me to have not one but two editors and a third set of eyes to work through the manuscript. Three rounds of edits and I was happy with the direction we headed.

I can relate to that. I have always been an independently published author because I have control issues when it comes to my book and its packaging, but I’ve been wondering if I might be able to compromise and do traditional for a change. Why did you choose to write in the genre you’re in?

I love romance novels, but I also love mystery and suspense. If an author can add some humor in there too, I’m hooked. I have always aspired to create something that a reader could escape into- something that would suck them right into my character’s situation. It took me a long time to sit down and just do it. I always knew that I had to combine my love of suspense with romance. My female characters are not shrinking violets though, they can hold their own most of the time.

I love a good strong female lead! When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?

I had always been an avid reader. True story, we didn’t even have a television growing up, just music and books. We used to go to the drive-in a lot because I was in Arizona at the time. Imagine my shock when I went to my grandparents’ house in NY for a summer and got to watch television. By the time I was heading back home, I was hooked on my grandma’s “stories”. After that I knew I wanted to write, scripts, books, poetry, etc. I started by writing lyrics because I was a vocalist. I had written short skits or improv routines as I also did theater. Eventually, I turned to poetry and created mini stories in that format before graduating to creative writing and newspaper articles in college. It took me a long time to write that first novel but it’s never too late.

So you’re a singer and a writer? That’s so interesting! It sounds like you’ve tried your hand at ever form of creative writing out there! Tell us a little about your writing processes and your writing space.

I get ideas, little snippets of things floating around. Eventually they grow and I start to expand on them. When my first character captures me, I develop their background. I generally have an idea that grows, and I write it all down.

Once I have the character in mind and feel I know who they are, naming them is the last step. To me every name is deliberate. There is always a reason for the choice. In my first book, my heroine’s name is True Saoirse McLaren. Yes, she’s Irish. Her first name is a family name (my great grandfather) that I always loved. Her middle name is Gaelic for “Freedom”. Knowing her back story, you understand that she was born in Ireland and her name means ‘True Freedom’ which is what she has been struggling for since she escaped from Ireland with her parents and paternal grandmother after faking their deaths. She has lived in the shadows ever since.

As far as my writing space, I have a ‘Library’ in my house that is my space. I have decorated it and created an area that is essentially me- eclectic and varied with a hint of French Provencal. It seems to be where everyone congregates so I guess my cozy and comfortable definition was achieved. I write at night since I work full-time during the day, so candles are a must depending on my mood- and music.

Sounds like you are a very organized writer. I like to be too, though it doesn’t always work out that way. I even designed a novel notebook to keep all my notes in, organized so I can go back and reference everything, but even that ends up a mess somehow. I absolutely love the sound of your writing space! Mine is vintage in style, mostly 40’s type era. Eclectic for sure, though! What are your favorite books to read?

Some of my favorites are Janet Evanovich (anything but especially Stephanie Plum series), Heather Graham (Krewe of Hunters), Jeffrey Deaver, The Kellermans, Patricia Cornwell (Kate Scarpetta), and John Sanford (Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers). I am also really loving Tricia O’Malley’s various series right now (Althea Rose and Mystic Cove right now although Siren Island will be next). I enjoy Alice Hoffman (Any of the Magic Series) and Amy Tan (anything). You also can’t go wrong with Toni Morrison (Beloved, Song of Solomon, Tar Baby, etc.) or Deborah Harkness (Discovery of Witches). I am also part of some First Reader Teams for various authors and enjoy reading new author works because I know how hard it is to get the reviews.

As you can see, they all fall into their own categories. I enjoy reading most things (not instruction manuals- sorry).

I love Alice Hoffman’s Magic series too! I read through all three last fall and can’t wait to read her latest release in a few weeks. What does marketing look like for you? Are you an avid believer in social media or do you like paid advertisement more? Do you DIY or do you have someone else or a company handle it?

This was a very time-consuming process for me. One of the most important things I have learned by going through the traditional route is that you must build your brand- yourself. I have been very active on social media and launched countdown videos for my latest release because most publishers want you to market yourself and your book.

Much as I would love to hire someone to do that for me because it takes so much time, I just am not at that stage. Writing full-time is my first goal so right now, there is a very small shoestring budget. Meaning not much of one at all. I’ve gotten creative though. If you create a video using a free app like Animoto on your phone, and upload it to TikTok (full disclosure, my son had to teach me how to use it), you can then post the same video to Instagram (story and post) and when you post it on Instagram, you can also post it to Facebook and Twitter. I generally create a new post on Twitter though and upload the video because it comes from Instagram as a link. When I discovered this, it saved me a ton of time.

I am horrible with Facebook. I am also horrible with doing blog posts on my own website because I haven’t yet figured out how to link them to anything else. I also haven’t been able to build a subscriber list yet (I have a handful currently). My followers are on social media for the most part (Instagram and TikTok).

Social media is a nightmare! The more you can streamline it like you have figured out how to with cross-posting, the easier it gets. It can be a rabbit hole of never ending marketing and interacting and posting though if you’re not careful. If you have to do any research for your books, how do you like to accomplish this? What is your organization of research like? How long do you usually spend on research?

I research the web, social media, state and city sites, and random things that probably have me on a list or two (how to build punji pits comes to mind as does wiring a shower to electrocute someone through the floor). I bookmark a lot of sites and will eventually keep a list of websites on a spreadsheet or a word doc just so I have standards to go to.

There really is no timeframe for me as I constantly research while I’m writing. Something will pop into my head, and I’ll need to figure out how to make it happen. Off to Google I go to find an answer.

I keep notes, names, timelines, etc. in a small, thin notebook for each novel I am working on. My current novel is being bulleted in a pale pink “Shine Bright” notebook which amuses me as my main character is a Seer/Psychic/Green Witch. The Last Bloom was notated in a Red leather-bound journal which is ironic if you look at the cover of the novel.

Website spreadsheet! Why didn’t I think of that? You really are organized! Which of your books is your bestseller and why do you think it is? What do readers say they like about it?

This is a hard question for me. Being a new writer, I think The Last Bloom is a great novel that keeps readers engaged. I’ve had comments that it’s a one or two sitting read, even if that means you’re up until 4 in the morning. To me that’s the best kind of praise I can receive. For that reason, I feel that would inch this book above my Indie publication.

I also think that there’s such a quick pace in The Last Bloom, it draws the reader in, and they feel the tension that Calliope experiences. She has moments where she is just on edge because she is waiting for the killer to strike again and when she finally starts to let her guard down, he senses it and hits.

Sounds like it’s gotten a lot of good reviews so far! Tell us a little more about it.

The Last Bloom is about an odd love triangle. First, we have Calliope Laurent, an author who writes under a pseudonym because she is a very private person. She writes twisted thrillers with serial killers. We meet her as she’s freaking out because there is a constant stream of roses being delivered. The thing is, she isn’t dating anyone, and the cards are creepy.

What we learn is that the roses are from a stalker who has become a serial killer. They say imitation is the highest form of flattery, so he decides to court her by gifting her bodies set to match the final scenes of her novels.

Enter Sheriff Brady Harrison half of her protective detail. He’s taken with her immediately and she feels the same attraction. Brady is there to do a job, so they engage in flirtation and witty banter to pass the time and keep Calli distracted from the rising body count. It’s a forgone conclusion that the killer means for her to be his prize, but he’ll have to get through Brady first.

That is super creative and creepy! Of all the characters you’ve created, who is your favorite? (I know, it’s like choosing a favorite between kids)

Wow, I love all of my characters as you can guess. I think that I am feeling the culmination of my favorite things rolled into one character with my newest creation Cerulean (“Ce”). There’s just something about her that just draws me in and my goal is to capture it and share it with my readers. They can then love her as much as I do.

If you would like to find out more about Jennifer Peer and her novels please check out the links below. Give her a follow! And thanks for stopping by and learning about a new author. Who knows, they might just be your next favorite! Happy Reading!

Website  https://jenniferpeer.com

Twitter   https://twitter.com/jennpeer

Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/OfficialJennPeer/

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/jenn_peer/

TikTok  https://www.tiktok.com/@authorjenniferpeer?lang=en
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Best Social Media Platforms for Authors

September 27, 2021

marketing
I’m not going to lie, social media platforms can be scary and intimidating. As an author it took a lot of research, trial, and error. It’s taken me years to figure out what works best for me in marketing and gaining new followers who actually love to read and write like me. And I want to share it all with you in the hopes that my method might help you as well.

Instagram

This is the number one platform for authors right now. It is full of millions upon millions of readers and writers all across the world! Of course you’ll get your paid promoters and scammers but it’s actually pretty easy to find the real bibliophiles out there too. I would suggest you post every day, whatever time works best for you. Once a day is good enough. Everyone once in a while if you get something special and want to post twice that’s good too. Your content should be book-centered and of course, being the photocentric site it is, you should have a good pictures. When it comes to this I do a mixture. I post some photos of my private life; me reading, me writing, my reading and writing spaces, my pets (usually with books), personal bookstacks and photos of my bookshelves. I also like to create marketing photos for my books through PicMonkey. I’ll choose a background that goes with my theme for the month, like right now it’s autumn. Then I will add in my book cover or covers for a series and build my post around that to present my titles to my audience and try to make a new reader friend. I also try not to always make my Instagram all about me. That’s why I started up my weekly author spotlight blog posts so I can share other indie author’s works with my following. It feels good to give back to the community.

Example of one of my marketing photos for Instagram

To get started, be sure you create a separate author Instagram from your private one and make it a business account. That way you can gain access to your insights to see what works and what doesn’t.

Gaining followers for your author Instagram is not as hard as it sounds. I’ve gotten into a pretty good rhythm and it’s great because so many of my followers are either authors and writers like me or they love to read and end up checking out my books. We talk about books and interact with each other. I always told myself I didn’t want to build a fan page with my social media; I’m building a community. I can’t expect everyone to follow me when I don’t bother to follow them. Here is the strategy I use to gain interactive followers;

I don’t know if you know this or not but there is a thing on Instagram called Bookstagram. It’s a great hashtag if you’re looking for one. Everyone uses it in the bookish community! When you start following enough reader people you’ll start to see posts that say “Book Follow Train”. Take part in them! It’s a great way to meet other authors and readers and gain new followers. My little secret is I not only participate but I also like all the people who liked that post. Sometimes readers don’t want to go through all the rules of following a book follow train but they’ll like the post. I’ll do this all week long, Monday through Friday, several times a day. In that time I probably end up following about a thousand people. In turn a few hundred will follow me back and I call that a win!

Another great way to gain followers for your brand is to look into the followers of authors who write books like yours. Those people already show an interest in that genre and will probably like yours too. Follow their followers. The ones that show interest in you and follow you back will be great additions to your community and sales. Since I’m building a community, I believe in two way communication. I give everyone until Sunday to follow me back if they’re going to. If they don’t, then I unfollow, or remove them from my community. Nothing harsh or against them. It’s just hard to interact with someone who doesn’t interact with you. There are many apps out there to help you keep track of who follows you and who doesn’t so you can do this successfully.

Another great method is to follow hashtags for your genre and follow people who post in it. I don’t use this one often enough but I should. These are all quick and steady ways to grow your Instagram with real readers. Nothing is better than gaining organic followers. Don’t ever pay for followers! Readers and writers don’t care about your numbers, they care about your content and interaction. I will say that Instagram takes up the majority of my time though. I am on there every other hour following more people and I have my comments turned on so every time someone leaves a comment on my post I can respond back to it almost immediately. That way we can get a dialogue going and I can make a new reader friend. That’s what it’s all about.

Facebook

This is the second best author community for getting the word out about you and your books in my opinion. To get started you’ll want to create a page because you don’t want to use your private Facebook for your brand.

I like to make things easy so I streamline my Instagram posts to post directly to my Facebook page as well. I then share that post with all the author, writer, reader communities that I have joined. I will usually post it with a question to get everyone engaged that has something to do with what I posted. This is great for the private life photos, the #amreading photos, the bookstacks, the author spotlights. The only place you might get rejected is when you try to repost your marketing photos. A lot of groups have specific days they allow authors to promote their own books or they don’t allow it at all. With this I just suggest you read the guidelines to the groups and just try it out. If they say no they say no. And be sure to participate in these groups as well! You’ll make some great friends and possibly some new readers and fans.

Facebook is a slow and steady grow. There’s no secrets to gaining followers fast without spending a lot of money on advertisements, which I have given up on for now. I only gain a handful of people a week but they all interact with me and I have made some great friendships through it.

Twitter

This may be a good platform for authors and readers. I can honestly say I don’t know except I never had much success with it. It seems like a good place for discussions. People on Twitter tend to be “keyboard warriors” though. They can be a little judgmental and mean if you disagree with them and they’ll try to ruin you or your brand because of it. If you do pursue Twitter as one of your main outlets I would warn you to proceed with caution. I tend to only use as an automated repost of my Instagram posts, to offer up the links for my Bookfunnel promotions, and share my blog posts. I never actually go onto the Twitter app to do anything really. I don’t interact on there or check my comments or messages. I’ve turned off all notifications. I do get some traffic on my website from Twitter so I wouldn’t say don’t share to it. I just want to warn that readers aren’t buying books because they saw them on Twitter. They’re buying because they saw it on Instagram or Facebook.

Pinterest

I do recommend you have a Pinterest, but I find it more helpful for gathering inspiration for my stories. This can, in turn, become marketing for other pinners to become interested in your work, but that’s not my main motive for using it. I create a board for each story and add pins to it as I find them that go along with the story or inspire me for my next writing project. I divide them up by series. I also have a board to repost my website blogs as well. I don’t really follow how many people are following me or repinning my pins. It’s nothing impressive I would say. But it’s still a fun creative outlet for authors.

TikTok

I have a TikTok but it’s for my horse blog and not my writing or authorship. I don’t think I will start one for that because I never got into making the bookish videos like some people do on Instagram and TikTok. I am not charismatic in person, only in writing so I don’t feel comfy putting my face out there in videos doing goofy stuff all the time. If you are, then I say go for it because it seems to be a big draw and a trend right now. There are hashtags for readers and authors on TikTok just like on Instagram. I would say you could make a video with TikTok and repost it to Instagram even, like I do with my horse blog. Cross posting saves you so much time and energy. But when it comes to growing your presence on TikTok I can speak into that. It’s much the same as Instagram. Follow and some of the people will follow you back. You can look at followers of people who post in your genre and content style to gain followers you know already like to read your type of books. Once a week go into your following list and clear out the ones who don’t say friends but following. That’s how you know they never followed you back and don’t care to interact with you.

Website Blog

I will touch on this lightly since I plan to do an entire post about the author blog later, but just know it IS super important. This is a great way to drive readers and authors to your website which means they are that much closer to checking out and possibly buying one of your books! Yay! I have found that what works best for me is to post twice a week. I post one blog article that is helpful to other authors, like this one, and then one blog post featuring my Author Spotlight to help other authors and readers connect. It’s my way of giving back and it’s fun making new friends in this way. I created my two day schedule, I post on those two days every week. I write my blogs the week before and schedule them so they automatically post and share to my social media. The more you can automate everything the better!

Automating Posts

I have discovered an app I really love where you can plan out your posts in advance and schedule them so they post automatically to Instagram and Facebook called Tailwind. I have paid the $100 for a year’s worth of service and it’s so worth it in my opinion because I can schedule an entire week’s worth of posts and then forget about it. All I do is answer comments from there. You can create an Instagram post, have it cross post automatically to Facebook and you’re done. They even suggest hashtags that go along with your description and color codes them for very popular, popular, and not popular so you can use hashtags to your advantage.

To get Tailwind CLICK HERE

I hope some of this information will be useful to you in growing your social media community for your authorship brand! It really works for growing it for any purpose really. Try it out and see what works for you. Social media really is all trial and error. Happy Writing!
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Author Spotlight: Michelle Piper

September 23, 2021

Author Spotlight
I want to introduce to all you readers and writers Michelle Piper! Michelle, why don’t you tell us a little about yourself?

My name is Michelle, and I was born and raised in Colorado. As a kid I loved to read, write, and draw, but as a teenager I was pushed towards STEM… because there’s no money in art, right? I did that for years, and actually am a Merchant Marine working in the engine room. It wasn’t until recently I started revisiting my artistic side. Man do I love it.

I hate to say you’re right about the money thing but…sometimes that’s more than accurate! What genres you do like to write in?

Presently fantasy. However, my next project will be horror, followed by a memoir of sorts. Someday I’d like to also do children’s books. So, I’m not willing to put myself into a one genre box just yet.

I’m with you! I have no idea how some writers are able to limit themselves to mystery only or women’s fiction only. I love to read in so many different genres that I found it hard to stick to writing just one genre. We have similar tastes too it seems! I write YA Fantasy, zombie apocalypse horror, and women’s fiction that is loosely based on my life experiences. So, are you traditionally published or independently published? And what made you choose that publishing path?

My first work will be self published. I’m enjoying it. The idea of pushing and advertising it isn’t scary. I have the energy to do it most days. Plus, I couldn’t handle the rejection, haha. Someday I may seek out a traditional route.

I agree. The rejection is the worst part of it all. People don’t realize but authors have to have really thick skin to get through that process, despite being emotional basket cases to write such complex characters and good stories! Am I right? So why did you choose to write in Fantasy and horror?

I’ve always been a child of fantasy. However, as an adult, there isn’t anything like what I’ve always wanted to read. It’s always the good guy saving the world. I’ve always wondered about the bad guys. Plus, fantasy needs more female voices.

I love Fantasy too! When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?

Is forever allowed? Totally kidding, of course. But, since about the 3rd grade I remember carrying around a GIANT notebook… a five star, 5 subject one to be exact, and writing in it. I’d get in trouble for doing it during class. I still have the dusty old thing, much to my embarrassment. All through my early education I was also on message boards, including Neopets, role playing. Even had a zine I was putting together that never happened.. I just never thought I could do it.

You were born to be an author! I had a similar start where I wrote little stories for myself since I was ten and then forced my friends to read my short stories in middle school. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about your writing space and processes? I find every author accomplished writing a book in different ways and that’s so interesting to me.

it’s still budding and growing. However, coffee shops are my jam. Really anywhere that isn’t home. Terrible posture, notes scattered in a million places. Even across multiple programs. We make it work over here.

I admire those who can write in coffee shops! I wish I could just so I have an excuse to get out of the house but then I just end up people watching and get absolutely no writing done! What are you favorite books to read when you’re not writing?

oh goodness… that has been ever evolving. I’m 30 now. I’ve reread some of my old favorites and I facepalm at how bad they are now. As I mentioned, Fantasy isn’t my favorite, even though it is, so I’ve been a lost child for many years. But, I can certainly put this together for an actual interview lol

I have my favorites I like to reread too but I always enjoy them (cough cough, Harry Potter). So what does your marketing strategy look like? I find this is where authors have the biggest trouble. I know I did and it took a long time to develop a method that worked for me.

That’s a work in progress, since this is my first novel due in December! But, social media has been good. It’s hard though, because numbers mean nothing if no one buys it. I have plans for snippets soon. A small little trailer of sorts. I’m at the point of putting together the blurb. I suspect I’ll hire some of it out once the cover is finished and all of that is ready too.

I’ve always wanted to make a book trailer just for the fun of it! I think about spending money on it and then I think “When have I ever even seen a book trailer, let alone bought a book because I saw a trailer?” but I can see how they would be a fun and creative way to promote a book too. I’m torn. Do you do any research for your books? If so, how do you go about that?

I’m embarrassed to admit very little, outside of Google searches. I know a little bit about slaughtering animals now. But, I don’t want my research to bog anything down. It’s just verifying to make sure something makes sense. To make it feel real. There is no rehashing any of it. Hours of Google rabbit holes for one line of text. But, if we are honest, I love NPR for perspectives, and I’ve read a few books. None have been useful, but they’re helpful to make the world dynamic and rich.

I hear you! I can get so lost in Google if I allow it. I never really had to do a ton of research either. I pretty much use Google maps to put myself in a place I’ve never been that I now have to write about. Street view has saved me so many times! What can you tell us about your upcoming release?

The series is called Sonder’s Song, book one titled Price for Innocence. It’s a dark fantasy. Our protagonists are part of the evil queen’s army, and they struggle with the roles they’ve taken on. It’s very character driven. I am calling it NA, regular. It has a soft magic system, and no mythical creatures. Book three has gods, but they’re very passive and briefly present.

That sounds interesting, right up my alley! Of all the characters you’ve created who is your favorite? I know, like picking your favorite kid but come on, we all have a favorite!

Easily Merrick… he’s amazing at doing the work the queen asks of him, yet he’s always primed to undermine her. His relationships with his comrades are rich, too. I mean… who doesn’t love a man who can lay next to a beautiful woman and attempt nothing and nurture their friendship that’s purely platonic? He’s the reason the other MC is a good man, even if Merrick wasn’t the best role model and father figure.

Cool name! I like him already! You mentioned more female voices in Fantasy. Obviously, you’re the female voice but what made you decide to write your main character as a male?

Gosh, that’s a really great question… longest story short, the idea came to me as a teen. Most of my characters were male, even a lot of my role playing ones… at that time in my life, I honestly wished I was a boy. I’ve always identified most closely with traditionally masculine things. Still to this day do. Heavy hitter having me admit that, hehe. Part of it too, though, was because most books I read were male MCs.

Do you find it difficult writing from the male perspective as a female? I know I sometimes find myself going “would a guy really say that?” And there’s plenty of times in TV shows my husband says “you can tell this was written by a woman because a man would never do or say that” haha (Outlander!) How do you keep the male characters realistic?

I don’t think so… we’ll see when it comes out what men think but, I will say, I’m writing men who aren’t afraid to be soft. So that makes it easier.

If you were to group your upcoming releases with other similar authors and books which ones would you pick? A lot of authors use the grab “for fans of…” Or “if you like….then you’ll love this!”

Gosh, that’s so hard, especially since I’ve moved away from the Fantasy genre. It would be bold to say N.K Jimisen, or Kate Elliot’s Crossroads series, but both inspired me. I go to Game of Thrones, but only for the grittiness. Mine isn’t a light read. C.M Allen’s Blood and Buscuits, because it’s different from others in the genre, and deal with people.

I’m definitely going to have to check out your book when it comes out in December! Well, readers, if you’d like to check out Michelle Piper’s upcoming release please use the link buttons below to visit her website or follow her on Instagram!

Michelle Piper’s Website

Follow Michelle Piper on Instagram
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Bookfunnel for Indie Authors

September 20, 2021

marketing
I’ve been an independent author since 2012. I have a Bachelor’s in English and a Master’s in Marketing. Somehow in all my research on how to market my books as an indie author I never came across any mention of Bookfunnel until last year! I signed up for a webinar series and offhandedly one of the videos said “And there’s Bookfunnel but you probably already know all about that so I wont’ even get into it.” I knew nothing about it! So of course I checked it out and it has been a marketing breakthrough for me every since.

What is Bookfunnel?

Bookfunnel is an app and a site for both readers and writers. As a writer, you sign up for it and pay for it because to get the full benefits you have to pay for a yearly subscription. Once you have created your account you can add your books, create landing pages for free newsletter giveaways or sales pages, join promotions, and watch your mailing list and sales soar. The way this happens is that all the authors who join a promotion are obligated to share that promotion through their mailing lists and on their social media. In the end, it opens hundreds of thousands of doors for you that you might otherwise never have found.

Getting Started & Adding Your Books

Bookfunnel

First you need to create your account. I recommend paying right off the bat because I’m telling you now the service is well worth it. It’s $100 for a year which can sound like a lot, especially to us starving artists, but it will more than pay for itself in the end if you use it right. Once you’ve signed up and pay you can get started! I would recommend adding all your books first. All you do is click on the menu tab that says “Books” and start adding them. Here you will add your cover, a note to the readers, your book description, and your different formats of your eBook; PDF, Mobi, and ePub. You can easily convert your pdfs into mobis and epubs through free services online for this. Here is the one I like to use.

eBook Converter

I recommend you take advantage and supply your potential readers with all formats so they can choose the one most convenient for them in the end. Be sure to take advantage of the notes to the reader and description portion of your book’s page. This is where you can really sell yourself and your work.

Creating Landing Pages

You have two landing page options for Bookfunnel; the sales landing page and the newsletter landing page. If you choose the sales landing page you can join all sales promotions with it and it will redirect those interested in your book to its sale pages, as many as you have so the reader can choose where they would like to purchase your book. If you choose the newsletter landing page then you are going to be giving your eBook away for free in exchange for an email address to add to your author mailing list. I don’t know about you, but growing my mailing list was always a struggle for me. I stayed at a consistent 100-125 subscribers for years. They would trickle in a handful a year at a time from the sign up on my website and social media and that was it. Once I started using Bookfunnel they, well, funneled in quickly. I have not even been using it for a year and I’m over 3500 subscribers now and growing every single day. I try to do an even number of sales and newsletter giveaways and I would recommend you do that too, but you need to create both types of landing pages for each book you have before you enter promotions. When you are creating your landing pages be careful not to put a date in if you don’t want it to ever expire. I find creating landing pages that don’t expire is most convenient. I can always go back and update it so there’s no real need to make one that disappears after a month unless you are planning a special one-time giveaway or promo. Be sure to add all links, including audiobook links when applicable. It’s always best to give your future readers the most options on what format they want to read your book. Take a look at your landing page’s preview first and if everything looks good then publish it and you’re ready to go.

Joining Promotions

Now for the whole reason you signed up for Bookfunnel in the first place, the promos! There are so many to choose from every single month. I like to go all out and enter a book or two of mine into every promo that has to do with my genre of books. The great thing about the promotions are they are separated into genres and the descriptions the promo organizer gives usually lays out pretty clear the types of books they’re looking for. Some can get pretty specific, like only books with dragons in them, while others are all-genre holiday giveaways. In any given month I am involved in at least 20-30 different promotions. I have even started my free and on sale eBook newsletter I do once a month where I share all the promotion links and my subscribers really like these. They look forward to them because they are all readers looking for something new to read. That’s the great thing about Bookfunnel! You know everyone signing up for your newsletter is someone who loves to read. To join a promotion you simply scroll through them all and pick one. Click on it and then read through the description to make sure your book will be a good fit. Next, you simply hit “Join Promotion” and pick the book you want to add. You don’t have to worry about accidentally adding a newsletter landing page to a sales promotion and vice versa because Bookfunnel will only display the landing pages for that type of promotion. Sometimes the creator of the promotion will have a link for you to click where they want you to fill out a survey to answer some questions. I’ve found these are usually very simple and are for the more serious promotion creators who are trying to collect some data about the people who sign up for their promos so they can better create in the future. If you want to see the list of promotions you’ve joined just click on Group Promos and then click Your Promos. It will then display in order your joined promos. Blue means its a newsletter giveaway promo and green means its a sales promo. It shows you todays date and then how long the promo runs and even puts a little star on the date you chose to share the promo with your newsletter, as it is always required every share a promo with their newsletter subscribers at least once.

Creating Your Own Promotion

Another option you have is to create your own promotion and invite other Bookfunnel authors to join in with you. I’ve found this works well for me if I create my own promotion about once a month, that runs for the whole month, calling for books very similar to mine. I write in YA Fantasy, Zombie Apcoalypse Horror, and Women’s Fiction so these are the three types I typically create and I end up getting quite a few authors joining in with me. To create your own promotion you click on the Group Promos tab and then go up to the righthand corner of the screen where it has a big orange button that says “Action”. This brings up a dropdown menu for you when you click on it. Choose “Post a New Promo” and get started putting it together. Pick what kind of promo and the dates you want it to run. You’ll need a banner photo, a description, and to add your own books to it. You also can restrict the number of books a single author can add so they don’t dominate the promo. Typically 2 is the magic number. Most authors will see the promo is up when they search group promos and that’s how they will join, but there are also Facebook groups dedicated to posting Bookfunnel promos so authors can join too.

Creating an eBook Gift

Bookfunnel is not only for promotions but you can also use it to gift eBooks to individual people as well. They make this super easy with the “Gift a Book Tab”. It’s very self-explanatory. When you do this you can see who from your giftees actually downloaded the book and who didn’t. This is a great use for ARC reviews and sneak peeks in my opinion. So often I get people who say they want a free copy in exchange for writing a review but then only half of them will actually download it and only half of them will actually remember to review it or put the effort in. It’s frustrating but hey, everyone’s busy and people forget. But Bookfunnel is great for tracking these things so you know who follows through and who doesn’t.

Adding Subscribers to Your Mailing List

I use Mailchimp as my newsletter server and it works really well with Bookfunnel. To download your emails you simply go to your homepage on Bookfunnel. Under your recent activity it will show you a list of your books that have had activity. Click on the title link and it will take you to that book’s activity in detail. When you click Export CVS you have the option to export new, all, or everything. I always click new so I don’t get repeats and I do this 1-2 times a day. Then I go into my Mailchimp audience dashboard page, click manage audience, import contacts, and upload the CVS I just downloaded from Bookfunnel. It transfers their name and email for me automatically quick and easy. Whenever I import my contacts Mailchimp automatically sends them out my welcome email that I have set up. Sometimes people unsubscribe, but most of the time they don’t, and I’ve even gotten a lot of interaction from those I’ve imported from Bookfunnel. These people love books and love to interact with authors and talk to them about books.

Bookfunnel as a Reader

Authors are the best readers and so you’ll probably want to use the service to start collecting free and on sale books of your own. Just download the app on your phone and you’ll be able to browse promos and download all the books you want. Of course, you will have to sign up for mailing lists just like everyone else, and that’s a good thing. It’s a great way to network with other authors and also gain inspiration for you own newsletters by seeing what others in your field are doing.

This is the basics on how to use Bookfunnel as an author. It has been a worth-it investment for me and I will continue to use as long as I can because it always has successful results for my sales and for growing my mailing list. I would advise any author, indie or traditional, to get on there, pay for it, and play around with it. Join tons of promos and watch your number grow. I feel so blessed to have found this service and I hope it can help you reach new readers as well. Tell me all about your experience with Bookfunnel in the comments below! And as always, Happy Writing & Happy Reading!
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