Author, Author (Platform)

Thank you to readers who have agreed to be my guinea pigs for my first trial e-mail blast. An e-mail blast is part of one’s “author platform” (read: self-marketing). I’m writing this blog now so that I can share it with you all. Then, when that works out, I’ll announce signup subscriptions to the blog. (You guys are already signed up voluntarily—or through blood relations.) Because June 24 starts a five-day promotion offering free Kindle versions of Wonderfully Made, I figured this is as good a time as any to start working on my author platform. I’ll send an official blast next week to announce the free promotion. After that, I think I’ll do quarterly e-mails until I know what I’m doing!

You guys are the best! Feel free to comment below, too. I’d love to see how that works.

Newsletter Coming!

I’m entering the world of newsletter writing, part of what those “in the biz” call an author platform. I’ve opened up my blogging to comments (gulp) on this site, and my home page has a space to subscribe to the newsletter. In two weeks, Amazon will be offering the Kindle version of Wonderfully Made for free for five days, so I figure that will be a great time to launch my newsletter. Please subscribe on my home page. Thanks!

99-Cent E-Book

The e-book of of Wonderfully Made is on sale for 99 cents until April 13! If you like it, please leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads.

Reviewing Wonderfully Made

If you've read Wonderfully Made and liked it, please consider reviewing it on Amazon. I'm planning a $0.99 Kindle promotion next month, and the promotional sites like more reviews. Thanks!

If you haven’t read it yet, the $0.99 seven-day deal is coming. I’ll post the info here.

Of course, if you would like to review All for Good as well, I’d greatly appreciate that, too!

Guest Blog and Offer

Check out author Nan Reinhardt’s page, where Nan hosts me in a guest blog. Reply to the question for a chance to win an Amazon gift card.

Radio Interview

On Tuesday, October 12, our local radio station, WCHE, interviewed me about All for Good and Wonderfully Made. I was nervous, but the hosts made me feel right at ease, and I truly enjoyed myself. Here’s the attachment to the 20-minute recording.

Get Free Kindle Book 1

October 8 through 12, Amazon is offering the Kindle version of All for Good for free. Get a copy and share it! Then check out book 2, Wonderfully Made. And if you like them, please write a review on Amazon or Goodreads.

Also, I have to say that it’s very cool to see both books together on Amazon!

Book Club Fun

I got to speak to a book group last night, called Books Between Friends, and even signed some books! It was a blast to be able to talk about the writing process and A Vacation Friends Romance series, as well as to catch up with some people I haven’t seen in 17 years! Fellowship, friendship, and books—what could be more fun?

Reading aloud a few pages from the manuscript to book 2 got me excited for the launch of Wonderfully Made. My fantastic cover designer, Joe McGinty, is working on a cover that I know will draw you in. Look for it soon!

Kindle Countdown: 99 cents!

The Kindle version of All for Good is 99 cents until May 7. I’m hoping to get buzz as I prepare for the launch of book 2 in this series in mid- to late summer.

Valentine’s Week Kindle Countdown Deal

February 3 through 10, Amazon will be offering a Kindle Countdown deal for All for Good. That means that, for only seven days, the Kindle version of this romance novel will cost $1.99 instead of the usual $3.99. The goal is entice new readers to the series. With book two in the review stage, I hope to encourage greater readership.

I’m watching and learning …

Marketing

It’s been more than two months since my last blog. That’s because I don’t think I quite understand the whole drive-people-to-my site thing. I’m going to explore some other options to reach readers—maybe Goodreads blogging.

Today, I worked on book 2 of my “other series.” Book 2 of the Vacation Friends series is in review. It will be interesting to figure out how to balance writing both series and holding a full-time job. That’s certainly a dilemma that I’m NOT complaining about.

Click on my Contact button to let me know you visited this site. I need the feedback to figure out what is the best way to communicate regularly with readers.

I’ve Been Interviewed!

I’m so thankful to author Nan Reinhardt for interviewing me for her blog and introducing me to her readers: https://nanreinhardt.com/welcome-author-roseann-mcgrath-brooks/. Nan is an amazing romance writer, and I’ve been following her since her first book, Rule Number One, published in 2012. Her latest series, Four Irish Brothers Winery, is charming, and the characters are so relatable! I want to be their friend! Don’t miss her Women of Willow Bay series, which focus on the romance stories of mature women.

Launched

So my book has launched on Amazon. I’m nervous but excited. Now it’s time to start advertising it. I posted it on Facebook, so friends and family will see it today. I think I’ll wait a bit and then do the Twitter and Instagram thing. I'm up to the editing stage of the second book in the series, but I'll take a break to "market" this one. I’ll keep you posted on how that goes! I started down this road to have fun with it, so I want to keep that tone and that emotion as I go along.

Starting Out

I figured I should start blogging before I launch my book so that I know what I’m doing when the time comes.

Here’s where I am: Within the next week or so, I should be able to launch my first novel, All for Good, through Kindle Direct Publishing on Amazon. I’ll produce an e-book and a print-on-demand version. It sounds fairly simple, but this “prepublishing” stage has been the hardest part of creating a book. I’ve been writing and editing marketing communications my whole career, so the writing and editing part was fun. The rest of it has been, well, scary.

My new friend Lee has been working on formatting my book for both digital and print. She does an amazing job, and you should check out her book, At Last, on Amazon. However, there are so many tiny things to consider, and to my coworkers who are quality-control proofreaders, my hat goes off to you. My old friend Joe has been working on my cover. I’m mortified that I’ve had so many tweaks along the way. On the bright side, we are closing in on the perfect cover.

So in some ways, I’m at the point where I can’t wait. In other ways, I’m still nervous as can be.

I’m hoping that the next time you hear from me, I’ll have a link to my book on Amazon!