Millionaire Bootcamp for Authors in London this June

My colleague Stephanie Hale has asked if I will give a mention for the Millionaire Bootcamp for Authors she is organising in London next month.

This is a three-day event at The Millennium Gloucester Hotel Conference Centre (pictured below) in London SW7. It will run from 8-10 June 2012.

The event will be attended by over 100 literary agents, literary consultants and publishers, as well as authors and aspiring authors.

Speakers/trainers include NYT best-selling author Raymond Aaron, successful writer and book marketing expert Peggy McColl, Kindle publishing sensation Ty Cohen, best-selling self-help author and speaker Arvind Devalia, and many more. Take a look at the website for full details.

The normal price of a ticket to The Millionaire Bootcamp is £297, but for a limited time you can book an 'Early Bird' ticket for just £37. And yes, you read that correctly, just thirty-seven UK pounds, equivalent to around $60 US or 46 Euro.

If you live anywhere near London and happen to be free on those dates, this looks amazing value to me. You also get a selection of bonus gifts for signing up, including a free place on Write Your Book In 30 Days Or Less, a one-day workshop with Stephanie Hale on Saturday 14 July.

I honestly don't know how Stephanie is able to offer all of this at the ridiculously low price of £37, but I double-checked and that's definitely the deal that's available now. I'd imagine the networking opportunities at the event alone should be worth many times that modest investment.

Anyway, good luck if you do decide to register for the Millionaire Bootcamp for Authors. Please return to this post afterwards and leave a comment about your experiences there!

Disclosure: The links in this post are affiliate links, so if you sign up I will receive a proportion of the fee you pay as commission. This actually makes me wonder all the more how Stephanie is making any money out of all this!

Why Creating a Series Can Be a Smart Marketing Move

Today I'm pleased to bring you a guest post from US science-fiction and fantasy author Mary Pax (or M. Pax as she prefers to style herself in her publicity).

The post is part of Mary's blog tour to launch her series of novels called Backworlds, the first of which, The Backworlds, is now available free in e-book form (see below).

Mary believes strongly in the value of publishing not just one book but a whole series. In this article, she explains her reasons why...

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Movies do it. Television does it. Books do it, too. I'm talking about the series

Sometimes they're conceived from the beginning as series. Sometimes a movie or book does so well, the public clamors for more. So, more is produced.

It's a great strategy, because it funnels readers into our sequels with less work than launching a new title. The funnel is already created if the initial offering is a hit.

What if we don't want to wait and see? We can write the greatest novel ever and not be a hit. So how do we create a funnel?

Many successful ebook authors choose to give away their first book, or price it very low. The idea is to get the work into as many hands as possible. Those who like it, the author's audience, will come back for more.

This same marketing principle is used by a lot of companies. They'll give away samples or a free version to gain customers and introduce themselves.

A successful series can then help an author sell other titles.

This is the strategy I decided to use in launching the Backworlds series. The first story is free, and will remain free. I will use it in my advertising and marketing campaign, working to get it into as many hands as possible.

Some groan at giving their work away. I think of it as an ad, a marketing expense. It's a better return on my dollar than most advertising expenditures. It's a long-term strategy for winning over readers to gain sales for the sequels.

I've seen some authors write several books in a series and release them together. The consensus seems to be, the more titles we get out there, the better we'll do. I haven't done this, but I've seen it work for others.

What marketing strategies have you used?

The Backworlds: After the war with Earth, bioengineered humans scatter across the Backworlds. Competition is fierce and pickings are scant. Scant enough that Craze's father decides to hoard his fortune by destroying his son. Cut off from family and friends, with little money, and even less knowledge of the worlds beyond his own, Craze heads into an uncertain future. Boarding the transport to Elstwhere, he vows to make his father regret this day.

Available as an ebook from Amazon / AmazonUK / Smashwords / Feedbooks. Free on Smashwords and Feedbooks. Will be free on Amazon in a few weeks.

Sign up for M. Pax's newsletter to be notified the moment The Backworlds goes FREE on Amazon, and when it becomes available from other retailers.

About the Author: M. Pax's inspiration comes from the wilds of Oregon, especially the high desert where she shares her home with two cats and a husband unit. Creative sparks also come from Pine Mountain Observatory where she spend her summers working as a star guide. She writes mostly science fiction and fantasy, but confesses to an obsession with Jane Austen. She blogs at her website, www.mpaxauthor.com and at Wistful Nebulae. You'll find links there to connect on Twitter, Goodread, FB and other sites.


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Thank you to Mary for her guest post. I have already downloaded her first Backworlds book to my Kindle via Smashwords and am enjoying reading it!

If you have any comments or questions for Mary (or me), as always, please feel free to post them below. 

Photo of M. Pax provided by the author.

See Me at More Money Review!

Some of you will know this already, but I recently started working for a new client, More Money Review.

This is a UK-based email newsletter and website devoted to money-making opportunities. The URL is www.moremoneyreview.com and they also have a Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/MoreMoneyReview.

I'd done one or two articles and reviews for MMR before, but it was good to be offered a regular gig with them, especially as one or two of my other clients have fallen victim to the worldwide recession recently (though not my blog sponsors, The WCCL Network, thankfully!).

The main subject areas covered by More Money Review are MMO (make money online) opportunities, forex trading, and sports betting. Some of these fields are more familiar to me than others, but I'm looking forward to learning more about all of them in the months ahead!

My role with MMR is a combination of reviewing, article writing and copywriting. You can read my latest article for them about the Amazon KDP Select program here. You can also read my review of the new Banners Broker business opportunity here. Note that More Money Review is a membership site, so in some cases you may be asked to register (free) to access the full content of a page.

If you're interested in home-based business and sideline money-making opportunities, I do recommend signing up to receive their email newsletter and gain full access to the site. And that's not just because they are putting bread on my table! I'm satified that MMR is an honest, ethical operation, and they provide objective information and reviews in a field where hype and exaggeration are frequently the order of the day.

Bear in mind that More Money Review is aimed at UK readers, however, so not everything covered will be relevant to those living outside Britain.

Incidentally, on MMR I go by the cunning pen-name of Nick D. Well, I couldn't make my identity too obvious, now could I!

One Author's Experiences With KDP Select

Today I'm pleased to bring you another guest post from MWB regular David Robinson.

David has recently been trying out the new KDP Select opportunity for Amazon Kindle authors.

In this post he reveals his experiences with this scheme, which allows authors to make their e-books available for lending to US Amazon Prime members. Authors receive a payment from Amazon every time their book is borrowed under this scheme, and also enjoy certain other benefits, as explained below.

Over to David, then...

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I have a novel, The Handshaker, which I enrolled in KDP Select back in January. I was dipping my toe in the water. Prior to January, The Handshaker had sold exactly three copies worldwide, and only two of those were on Amazon, so it wasn't as if I was taking a great risk.

I've read any number of blog posts on Select, and how great it is. So how did The Handshaker do? Well, it sold, but in the 90-day period, it still amounted to less than 50 copies.

You could say that my marketing was at fault. Fair comment. I'm no expert, merely persistent, and I plugged it for all it was worth through the usual channels: my blog, Facebook and Twitter. Unlike so many of Nick's correspondents, I'm not an internet marketer. I'm a novelist, and although the underlying marketing principles are the same, selling fiction is a slightly different proposition to selling "How to..." guides or extra-income opportunities.

One problem with KDP Select is exclusivity. In order to be accepted into the scheme, your title must be exclusive to Amazon for the 90-day period. It didn't seem to matter with The Handshaker. It wasn't selling anyway. When, however, I looked over my total sales figures for all titles during last year, I noticed I sold as many titles through Smashwords and their distribution catalogue as I did through Amazon. This begs the question: if I had not enrolled the book into KDP Select, and instead hyped it, would I have sold another 50 copies through Smashwords?

Obviously, I don't know the answer to that, but now that the novel is back with Smashwords as well as Amazon, I may be able to "guesstimate" three months from now.

Select has one great advantage. You can make your title free for five days out of the 90 and you choose which days. In the normal course of events, free is something Amazon don't do, and in common with many other authors, I think this is a shame. Putting a single title out free can hype the sales of an entire series.

I made The Handshaker free over two separate weekends and in all, 1600 people took advantage of it. How will that affect sales? It's still too early to say. A good many of them will be "freeloaders" who will probably never read the book - and even for the readers, the plot is complex, the book 103,000 words long, and it takes time to get through it. I don't anticipate much feedback until the summer.

Another aspect of Select is the loan facility. Those members of Amazon Prime (a fee based facility) can have the book for free, but my understanding is that Amazon Prime is available only to US residents, and while American books can do well in Great Britain, the same is not true in reverse. Most British books perform poorly in the United States. My book was borrowed just twice in the 90 days.

Was it worth it?

Where The Handshaker is concerned, no. It was perhaps the wrong title to put into Select. It has a strong British flavour to it, from the Pennine setting to the police ranks and procedures. It garners excellent reviews from British and ex-pat British readers, but none from the USA (yet).

That doesn't mean I've given up completely on KDP Select. As The Handshaker came out, I enrolled another title, A Spookies Compendium - a set of three ghost stories, two full length novels and one short story. Again, they're British, but the underlying tales, ghost hunting, have a more worldwide appeal.

I'll have to wait another three months to see how well Spookies perform.

Byline: David Robinson is a UK-based freelance writer and self-publisher. His books referred to in this article include The Handshaker and A Spookies Compendium. He has an Amazon Author page and also a blog at http://www.dwrob.com.

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Thanks to David for sharing his experiences of KDP Select. I'm sorry his initial experiences were disappointing, but look forward to hearing how his Spookies Compendium performs. Watch for another guest post from David on this subject in three months' time (I hope!).

Incidentally, if you're interested in KDP Select, a useful, low-cost resource I recommend is KDP Select Report by Rosa Suen, which I reviewed here a few weeks ago. This reveals how Rosa has used KDP Select successfully (for the most part) to promote a range of non-fiction e-books she has published.

If you have any comments or questions for David (or me) about KDP Select and/or writing for Kindle generally, please feel free to post them below.

Review: Writing Fit - Creativity Coaching for Writers

Writing Fit: Creativity Coaching for Writers is an in-depth personal development course for writers, from author and creativity coach Phil South.

Phil has contributed several guest posts to my blog, including the recent Where Do You Get Your Ideas From?

I was fortunate to receive an advance review copy of Phil's course, which has only just been released. It's the first in a planned series of courses called the Creative Genius Program, or CGP for short. Other courses in the works include one for musicians and one for visual artists (both also creative fields in which Phil is active, incidentally).

Writing Fit: Creativity Coaching for Writers is largely audio-based. At the core are eleven audio lessons, around twenty to thirty minutes in length.

The lessons are provided in the form of MP3 files, so you can play them on your PC or a dedicated MP3 player. They take you step-by-step through how the creative process works, and how to tap into and enhance your own natural creativity. There is also a PDF workbook which sums up the main points made in each lesson and invites you to answer questions based on what you have learned (an effective learning tool!).

In addition, you get a series of accompanying 'Alpha Technique' MP3s. Phil says that these are a kind of 'soft hypnosis' he developed. They are designed to program the coaching into the student's brain and also get him/her used to being in a high-alpha-wave state (a condition associated with a relaxed, creative frame of mind).

The Alpha Technique MP3s are a similar length to the main course modules, and one is associated with each module. Because they aim to produce a state of light hypnosis, students are recommended not to play them while driving or doing anything else that requires their active attention.

All of the audios are produced to a professional standard - of course, I would expect nothing less from someone with Phil's background in teaching, writing and music production! The lessons and Alpha Technique CDs are mainly delivered by Phil himself, with a pleasant and unobtrusive electronic music soundtrack. I assume that the music was also composed and performed by the multi-talented Mr South.

The course is based on Phil's experiences as a creative artist (in the broadest sense) and as a teacher attempting to instill creativity in his students. The basic philosophy is described by Phil himself as follows...

The creative process goes like this: Desire to create occurs in the mind, and this is a message from the subconscious that ideas are forming. The desire must be focused on in a relaxed state of mind where the brain waves lower to the alpha level and the subconscious can work on the desire and form the first idea. Then this initial idea must also be focused on in alpha, and this releases the subsequent ideas which start to stick to the first. Sooner or later the ideas have the correct “weight” and you can start working on it, whatever the idea is for.

As you work you are in a state of semi-relaxed awareness called flow. This is not as dreamlike as the state you have to be in to grow desire and ideas, but has similarities. It’s like you opened the faucet by being in alpha and you have to keep one foot in alpha to keep the flow going.

[The method] all works together as a coherent whole, and no one part of the process can be removed without affecting the other parts. That said, if a person only does only one part of CGP they will ramp up their creative output and access to ideas noticeably...

Having worked through the course myself, I can say that I found it both enjoyable and inspiring. I think of myself as a reasonably creative person anyway, but taking the time out to consider how the process works has actually proved surprisingly beneficial to me. I found following the course relaxing but also energizing. I know that sounds a bit contradictory, but that's really how it felt! In any event, I'm sure I will reap the benefits in the months and years ahead, and I plan to return to the lessons and (especially) the Alpha Technique audios regularly.

I suspect this course will work well for most writers, but maybe not all. In particular, I think it's important to be able to put aside any preconceptions you might have about creativity and accept (provisionally, at least) Phil's approach to the subject. If you can do this, there is every chance you will experience the benefits, not only in terms of generating ideas (as Phil says, that's only the start of the creative process) but in harnessing and developing them.

Writing Fit: Creativity Coaching for Writers is normally sold for $197, but readers of this blog can get the course for the bargain-basement price of just $97 via this link. If for any reason the previous discount link doesn't work on your browser, go to the course info page and use the coupon code "nickdaws2" when ordering. Note that this is purely a discount code for my readers - I won't receive any commission on sales!

As ever, if you have any comments or questions about Writing Fit: Creativity Coaching for Writers, please do post them below. Phil has promised that he will drop by to answer any questions directed to him personally. You might also like to check out his popular Going Down Writing creativity blog.

Photo Credit: Inspiration by H. Koppdelaney on Flickr. Reproduced under Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic Licence.

Five Top Tips for Getting a Job as a Commercial Writer

Today I'm pleased to welcome a new guest writer, Helen Gallagher, to my blog.

Helen has some cogent advice for anyone who is hoping to get a job as a full-time business writer.

Over to Helen with her first tip, then...

1. Watch Your Mouth

I studied English and Creative Writing at University and learned a lot; including the fact that professors are not above ego-tripping, and that watching your mouth was a useful trait (I blithely corrected an English professor about an aspect of the famous Beat Generation poem Howl... I didn't get more than 50% for the rest of the year).

Later, I was lucky enough to get some interviews at very good companies - including Reed Elsevier, where my big mouth got me into trouble again. "Is there anything you don't like about the company?" the interviewer asked. I said, "Yeah - the cluster bombs."

Needless to say, I didn't get that one. 

2. Suss Out the Culture

Remember that when you go for an interview, you need to see if you would be comfortable working there. If you are naturally a scruffy person (no shame in it) an uber-polished office where you are expected to look pin-sharp every day is just going to stress you out and negatively impact your work.

I interviewed at Foxtons, a vast warehouse of a place with a strict, glossy corporate culture. The job would have included taking my piercings out and wearing a suit every day. I considered it, but I knew I wouldn't have fit into that kind of super-corporate environment and I wouldn't have lasted.

Think about whether you would fit in with the social atmosphere. Introverts can find busy, social workplaces incredibly stressful and distracting. I eventually got a pretty good job sub-editing questions for the Buzz! Computer games. It was good fun, but the laddish atmosphere (one bloke bought another a blow-up doll one day) was off-putting and the managers were unscrupulous, routinely cutting corners and demanding unpaid overtime from their staff (only one of whom was over 25).  

3. Don't Work for Free

Don't fall into the trap of working for free, unless it is for a charity that cannot afford to pay you. In this case, be careful about how much time you commit. Freelancers are particularly vulnerable to being asked to work for free, or 'exposure' - an illustrator friend of mine writes continuously on his blog about people who have gotten in touch to ask/demand freebies, ranging from a quick sketch to an entire graphic novel.

Commercial writing/editing jobs can be just as bad - the usual entry into publishing is an unpaid internship or extremely low wage entry-level job. When I was looking, companies were offering an average of 14,000 UK pounds a year (pre-recession) in London and Oxford. This makes it impossible for most people to enter the field, unless they are being supported by parents or a  spouse.

Another role was advertised as a writing position with 'some client interaction'. I accepted a lower wage and a long commute to pursue my passion. Turned out to be a bit of a con. The job was mostly phone work and promised raises failed to materialise. 

4. Dress Appropriately

Make sure you attend interviews on time, well groomed, with minimal jewellery  and make-up. Wear a suit and carry a smart briefcase/handbag, or at least wear a shirt and tailored trousers. Making the extra effort in your interview, even if the boss is wearing a zip-up hoodie and ratty jeans (and they usually do) is important. Little details will stand out; do take the time to brush your coat free of lint, polish your shoes, remove any old nail varnish and make sure your shirt sees an iron beforehand. 

5. Stay Hopeful

Luckily I was able to progress away from the customer service role and got into SEO, my current job and one I love; I'm also working for a better company now, one that is honest, straightforward and ethical. I get to write, and blog, learn new skills and explore how the internet works - the only way this could get better is if I were working on the Fallout franchise. Another friend of mine worked writing product descriptions for a flower website while creating his (now published) novels. As with anything else, just be aware, be safe and be careful; remember at every single interview that you are a good writer, that your work is worthwhile, and that you are also interviewing them.

Byline: Helen Gallagher, SEO manager at Urban Attic.

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Thank you to Helen (pictured, right) for her hard-won practical tips. I hope younger readers of this blog in particular will enjoy and benefit from this advice.

There are plenty of jobs that involve writing, and even if your ultimate ambition is to become a freelance, there's a lot to be said for doing a paid job for a few years at least, to gain skills and experience and build your network of contacts. Having a guaranteed monthly income has a lot to recommend it too!

In my earlier life, I worked in public relations, an occupation which involves writing all types of content, from press releases and articles to newletters and reports. Other types of job with substantial writing content can include copywriting, journalism, website design, SEO, research, publishing, marketing, and so on.

If you have any comments or questions for Helen (or me), please feel free to post them below.

Photo Credit: Toby Working by Dave Fayram on Flickr.  Reproduced under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic Licence. Photo of Helen Gallagher supplied by the writer.

Three New Low-Cost Resources for Kindle Writers

I've seen three new Kindle-related resources over the last few days that look well worth checking out.

All of them are still under $12 but going up in price steadily, so I wanted to bring them to your notice as soon as possible.

I'll try to get around to reviewing at least one or two of these soon, but at these low prices you're not really risking a great deal.

Kindle Mania is a concise guide for aspiring Kindle authors. It includes profitable topics to write about, strategies to make your book stand out, the 'MAGIC' formula, formatting tips, pricing strategies, and some clever tactics to promote your book.

As a bonus, you also receive Kindle Ebook Generator, which is described as a 'point-and-click Amazon Kindle e-book creator'. Apparently it will generate up to seven chapters in Kindle-ready format. If your e-book has more chapters than that I guess you're out of luck, but for under 7 bucks at the time of writing Kindle Mania still looks a pretty good deal to me.

Quick and Easy Kindle Formatting Blueprint by Bryan Bowers is a complete guide to formatting your e-book for the Kindle and publishing it via Kindle Direct Publishing. It takes the form of five professionally made video tutorials plus two PDFs, and is being sold on the Warrior Forum as a Warrior Special Offer (WSO).

Bryan's guide takes you through preparing your e-book in Word (or a similar word-processing program), converting it using the free Calibre e-book software, and publishing it via KDP.

I've never used Calibre for this purpose - I've always used MobiPocket Reader, as described in my Kindle Kash course - but I know some people (e.g. my colleague David Robinson) prefer Calibre.

Another of my Kindle publishing colleagues, Rosa Suen, wrote about this package in an email to her subscribers recently...

'...today I tried using the Calibre software, and I love it. I've never used Calibre before. I followed [Bryan's] blueprint video instructions and converted two Kindle books easily with NO ERRORS at all with the Table of Contents.

'I like the Calibre software better than MobiPocket because Calibre gives me a perfect, linkable Table of Contents. I sometimes struggle with MobiPocket to get the clickable Table of Contents to appear on the Kindle device. When MobiPocket fails, then I end up creating my own clickable TOC using MS Word.'

So maybe I should check out Calibre as well!

In any event, if you want a guide to using Calibre to format your Kindle e-books (plus lots of other useful info), Quick and Easy Kindle Formatting Blueprint looks well worth the modest fee of under $11 at the time of writing. There is a 60-day money-back guarantee if you're dissatisfied with it.

Finally, Pinning Kindle Profits is a guide to using the power of new social networking phenomenon Pinterest to help promote your Kindle e-books. It's by Sam England and Pinterest guru Barbara Ling, and is currently also on sale as a WSO.

Pinterest has become massively popular in a short space of time. According to this recent article from Mashable, it is already generating 17 times the online sales revenue generated from Twitter.

Sam and Barbara's PDF manual sets out a 10-step system for creating engaging Pinterest boards to promote your Kindle e-books. One reviewer, Rob Howard, wrote:

'Sam sent me a review copy and I must say, it's damn good. Inside, Barb shows you how to utilize Pinterest and Kindle in a really neat way! It's very newbie friendly, she shows you 10 easy steps to setting the whole thing up and it can be done pretty quick.

'She shows you how to use Entertainment to grab attention of Pinterest buyers (people who would be interested in your book) to drive them to your Kindle product. She goes into details about how to do this and even provides other resources to achieve this!

'It's very well worth the measly 7 bucks it's starting off at. I highly recommend anyone interested in Kindle (even just promoting books that isn't yours) to pick this up!'

There are also eight additional bonuses, mostly Kindle-related. Again, for under $11 (the dimesale price at the time of writing) this one is definitely well worth a look. There is also a 60-day money-back guarantee on this offer.

I aim to publish a full review of Pinning Kindle Profits here soon, but I recommend buying now while the price is still low (and, indeed, before the product is withdrawn from sale).

Finally, of course, my own guide Kindle Kash is still available, and provides an in-depth guide to devising, writing, editing, publishing and promoting a Kindle e-book. I'm also offering four extra bonuses of my own to buyers from my homepage. Buy now and join the many hundreds of writers who have followed the step-by-step advice in Kindle Kash to create their own published Kindle e-book!