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Climbing the Charts

bestsellerDeath of Secrets is zooming up the Kindle bestseller charts lately, thanks to being Thriller of the Week at Kindle Nation Daily. I have mostly turned my focus to finishing Life of Secrets, but when something exciting happens it’s easy to focus on the first book again.

The world of independent publishing is really rewarding. First there’s the writing of the actual book, which is an amazing emotional roller coaster in itself. Then, when it’s out there for people to buy, the ups and downs get that much steeper. There are the days when you check and you check and you check but nothing sells. Then there are the days when the book is rocketing off the shelves — in a digital sense of course.

Seeing my book almost to the top 20 in its category — sitting alongside the likes of Vince Flynn — is pretty heady stuff.

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Reviews

I have to be honest: I love reviews. I know it’s vain, I know it’s a weakness, but every time a new review shows up on Amazon for Death of Secrets, I feel encouraged to keep writing.

It has changed how I interact with purchased products too. I used to be quite sarcastic and arrogant when delivering a harsh review. Now I’m much more likely to only writer a review if I can give it four or five stars, because I know there’s probably an aspiring author on the other end whose mental state will be seriously affected by what I write.

Thank you, everyone who has reviewed Death of Secrets! Your positive reviews not only help sell the book, they encourage and uplift the author.

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Social Media Advertising

The launch of Death of Secrets has been a great opportunity to learn about what works and what doesn’t work for selling books. My conclusion is pretty simple: Social media was almost useless. I did some things with the URL in the ads so that I could have at least some idea of where sales come from. The number of sales that could possibly have come through Twitter ads?

Eight.

That’s infinitesimally small compared to actual sales.

It’s a little harder to exactly track how Facebook and Goodreads performed, but my opinion is not super high so far.

When Life of Secrets launches, the ad budget is going to be allocated much differently.

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Cover blurb for Life of Secrets

When I come down with writers’ block, I like to write marketing text to help inspire me. This is the current draft for Life of Secrets:

She lived a double life: professor by day, thief by night. But all that comes crashing down when she’s framed for a murder she didn’t commit — the assassination of a Presidential candidate.

Alyssa Chambers is on the run from the largest manhunt in American history. Every federal law enforcement agency is competing to bring her in first. The media are demonizing her to the public. And her only hope is the one man she can’t seem to stop betraying.

To survive and clear her name, she’ll have to confront the truth about her past and worse, the truth about herself.

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Thoughts on cover art for Life of Secrets

I have some very specific ideas for the cover art for Life of Secrets, and nothing I have seen so far really fits. The gentleman who did the cover art for Death of Secrets for me did great work, and I would like to work with him again. My struggle is that his pre-made covers that are available right now don’t quite fit Life of Secrets, and getting a custom one done gets expensive fast.

I am giving some thought to trying it on my own. I’ve learned a lot about this since the last time I tried to do my own cover, and I think I know the tricks that make it look professional.

But I love this story too much to put it out with anything but a first-rate book cover, so I’m not sure whether I’ll be willing to take the risk or not.

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Price cut!

Here’s a great bargain: the Kindle edition of Death of Secrets is now only 99 cents! If you haven’t tried it yet, now is the time!

I want to build up as many readers as possible in the run up to launching Life of Secrets. This should help get as many people as possible looking forward to the next book.

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The ending of Life of Secrets is amazing!

The hardest part about being a writer is keeping an awesome surprise a secret.

I just wrote the ending to Life of Secrets, the prequel to Death of Secrets. I really love it, and I wish I could tell people about it. But there’s no way to really communicate the emotion without knowing the characters. And of course, the only way to get that is to read the book.

You all are in for a treat in June!

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Sixteen hours to go!

In sixteen hours, the Kickstarter campaign for Death of Secrets will come to an end. I am already overwhelmed by the level of support shown by my friends. If you still want to back the book, go to http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1785187395/death-of-secrets. You can get a signed copy of the book as a reward, or more!

Once the novel goes to publication at the end of the month, I am prepared for anything. It could sell no more copies than the 40 people who are already backing it. In my dream world, it will sell millions of copies and I can become a professional novelist. More likely, of course, is somewhere in between. I trust God for the outcome. I know that He loves me, and that however many copies of the novel sell, he will use that for my good.

Whatever happens, I have already learned that I have Grade A friends who are willing to put their personal resources on the line to help me chase a dream. Thank you. Thank you all.