Showing posts with label vampire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vampire. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Wynne Channing: Indie Author Budgeting & New Release



I Am Forever Cover
 
I Am Forever
So when 17-year-old Axelia falls into a sacred well filled with blood and emerges a vampire, the immortal empire believes she is this legendary destroyer. Hunted by soldiers and mercenaries, Axelia and her reluctant ally, the vampire bladesmith Lucas, must battle to survive.An ancient prophecy warns of a girl destined to cause the extinction of the vampire race.
(What Kills Me #2)
Axelia fought an army of vampires and survived. Once fated as the destroyer of the vampire race, she is now welcomed into the immortal empire and revered as a god.
But instead of relishing her victory, she faces a dangerous new world and an empire at war. Axelia is thrust into the position of supreme vampire and caught in the crossfire of battle. To make matters worse, her role alienates Lucas, the one vampire that she trusts.
Her power spawns evil enemies. And they know how to get to her — by hurting those whom she loves most.
Amazon US – Amazon UK – Kobo – Smashwords
Add I Am Forever to your Goodreads list!
_________________________
About What Kills Me (Book #1)
How will she convince the empire that she is just an innocent teenager-turned bloodsucker and not a creature of destruction? And if she cannot, can a vampire who is afraid of bugs summon the courage to fight a nation of immortals?
Amazon US – Amazon UK – Barnes & Noble – Kobo – iTunes
Wynne Channing
 

Wynne Channing
Wynne Channing is a national newspaper reporter and award-winning young adult novelist. Wynne loves telling stories and as a journalist, she has interviewed everyone from Daniel Radcliffe and Hugh Jackman to the president of the Maldives and Duchess Sarah Ferguson. The closest she has come to interviewing a vampire is sitting down with True Blood‘s Alexander Skarsgard (he didn’t bite). She briefly considered calling her debut novel “Well” so then everyone would say: “Well written by Wynne Channing.”
Website – Blog – Twitter – Facebook – Goodreads
Google+ – Pinterest – Youtube – Amazon Author Page
 
GRAND PRIZE: A stunning ballpoint pen filled with more than 100 pink crystals, a black leather note book by Canadian designer Jessica Jensen, an ecopy of I Am Forever (Book Two in the What Kills Me series) and a signed What Kills Me bookmark.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
 
 I Am Forever Tour schedule:
 
And now, a special guest post from the author herself...
Indie Author Budgeting 101

It is entirely possible to publish your book at no cost.

But if you are going to treat this venture as a business — which you should — it might require some initial investment.

Where to start?

You need a budget. Ugh. I know, the 'B' word. And you’re a writer, not an accountant (unless you are, in which case high five). Personally, I under-budgeted for my debut novel, What Kills Me because I didn’t anticipate a lot of extra costs; then I over-budgeted for its sequel I Am Forever.

Begin by making a list of expenses that you might need, ie:
- copy editing
- proofreading
- cover design
- webpage, web hosting
- promotion/marketing
- book trailer
- giveaways, postage

Now you can pay a lot or a little for each of these things. It's up to you. There are ways to save, however.

Copyediting Most editors charge by the hour and rates vary according to the editor's experience.
There are at least three stages of editing: substantive editing (big picture stuff like plot and tone), copyediting (sentence structure, grammar, spelling, etc.) and proofreading (the final stage). Rates range from $30 to $50 an hour, according to the Editors’ Association of Canada. Estimates to edit my book (62,000+ words) ranged from 15 to 50 hours, depending on the stage of editing.

Ask several editors for quotes. Send them a portion of your manuscript, length of your project and ask for an estimate. My editor worked on my first page to make sure her edits were in line with what I wanted to pay for.

Now negotiate. Since my editor works by the hour, she gave me a list of common copyediting errors for me to fix before she began.

She estimated that a 73,000+ word manuscript might take her 45 hours at a cost of $1,800.

Cover design I contacted a few artists via Deviantart and got quotes from them regarding covers. The average quote was $275-$300. Make sure you negotiate revisions into the deal.

Webpage If you don't want to pay someone to design and build you a webpage, consider buying your domain name ($25 for one year via GoDaddy) and having it forwarded to your blog. (Set up your free blog via Wordpress or Blogspot.)

Marketing You can spend an infinite amount on marketing which is what truly drives sales of your book. You want to appear everywhere. Advertisers have this rule of how many times a consumer has to see an ad before buying.

Social media is a great free tool. Get on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest. Give books away for review on Goodreads and LibraryThing where readers are. Approach your favourite book blogs and offer yourself up for a Q&A. Create your own press release.

I spent $15 on a book trailer (via Fiverr.com). I gave UK-based Dark World Books $375 to organize a month-long online book tour for me where I’d appear on a different blog every day.

Formatting Many guides exist on how to convert your document into an appropriate file for Kindle, etc. If you’re not a techno twit like me, you can figure it out. I gladly gave Michael Mandarano, a copy editor and e-book formatter, $150 to rescue me and format What Kills Me. It cost me $172 for Stacey at Self Publishing Editing Service to format I Am Forever with gorgeous chapter separators, images, etc. in several file types, including a print version.

Trying to recoup your costs: This part is tough and sales are hard to predict. You can try to be strategic about pricing your books for maximum profit: Amazon gives you 35% royalties on anything under $2.99 and 70% for anything over. But part of the benefit of going indie, is that you can the adjust the price anytime you like to test different costs.

Once you’ve figured out how much you think you’ll need, start saving. I have an automatic savings plan that withdraws money every month into an account that goes to pay for “book expenses.” Now, all of my profits goes into this same account to be put back into the business. Good luck and if you ever want to talk the business of books, email me!

--by Wynne Channing 

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

BLOOD RUSH (Demimonde #2) News and Reviews

Just a quick note...I came across a fabulous review and thought it'd be a good time for a giveaway! Read on, Demimonde...

Reviews

Wondering if you should put BLOOD RUSH on your summer reading list? Let this review help you decide...

"Blood Rush is an exciting tale of romance, mystery, and danger which will intrigue readers who find that the roses of romance are made sweeter and more compelling by the subtle tinge of blood." --Foreword Reviews


Goodreads Giveaway

You are just a click away from entering to win a signed print copy of this book. Click the widget and cross your fingers...

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Blood Rush by Ash Krafton

Blood Rush

by Ash Krafton

Giveaway ends May 31, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.
Enter to win



Blood Rush Blog Tour

Bewitching Book Tours is hosting the Blood Rush Release Tour...join us as we visit with some of the best damn blogs I've ever seen, :)

May 17 Guest blog and review

Penny For Them... 




May 20 Guest blog

Phantasmic Reads




May 21 Interview

A Writer's Mind-




May 23 Interview

My Book Addiction  




May 24 Interview

Pembroke Sinclair.  




May 27 Spotlight

Unraveling Words




May 31 Spotlight




June 3 Spotlight

Mythical Books




June 4 Spotlight

The LUV'NV




June 5 Interview

Bianca2b 




June 6 Interview

Books & Tales.




June 7 Spotlight

Books Books and More Books 




June 10 Spotlight

Paranormal Romance and Beyond 




June 11 Spotlight

Cover Reveals 




June 13 Spotlight

Place of Reads Book Review Blog




June 14 Guest blog



June 14 review

Sapphyria's Book Reviews




June 17 Spotlight and review

Faerie Tale Books  






 
 
 
And don't forget to enter the Book Tour Contests...
Need a reminder? Find them both in this post.

Friday, June 29, 2012

Shiny Book Review loved Bleeding Hearts!

Since its debut in March 2012, BLEEDING HEARTS has been read and reviewed by many people...but certain reviews really resonated with me. A writer can tell when a reader connects to her work, especially when the reader takes such care to give a thoughtful review.

This is one of those reviews. Take a moment to read it--perhaps you, too, will find my character familiar...



Thank you, Barb, for your wonderful review of my book. Readers like you are the reason why I'm glad to share my story.

You will find several links to other great reviews on the sidebar...check 'em out a while!

And stay tuned for two new events coming up next week--not one but TWO holiday blog hops are tripping across the Demimonde. I hope there'll be fireworks!

Namaste, everyone...

Friday, February 10, 2012

You Never Forget Your First...

…vampire sweetheart, that is.

What is it about these creatures that haunt us, possess us, and draw us away from the well-lit safe places of our everyday lives?

Is it…eternal love? The promise of an eternity of dwelling in another's eyes, of being loved to the point of consumption. To quench the desire of someone who would starve without us. To become their life, their reason to exist.

Yeah. That's probably it.

Or…is it the danger, the rush of treading that silver blade between life and death, pleasure and pain?

But then again, with vampires, there is no "line between". Life and death, pleasure and pain, light and dark, good and bad. They are everything, all at once.

Heroes with unimaginable power, undone by a brush of sunlight. Strength and weakness, entwined.

No wonder vamps ensnare us: we do like our men complex, after all.

WELCOME TO THE V4V GIVEAWAY HOP! Be sure to enter to win...the entry form is at the end of the post...
Vampires for Valentines Giveaway Hop I have to go back a long time to remember my first vampire crush. I cut my teeth on Anne Rice when I was in college. My boyfriend had an English assignment on Interview with a Vampire and wanted me to read it so I could help him with the paper. (Come to think of it, I read a LOT of extra novels in college for the same purpose.)

I balked at first. Vampires weren't my thing.

Then, Boyfriend turned big baby brown eyes on me and fluttered those long lashes. Seriously. He had eyes like the puppies on those rip-your-heart-out animal fundraiser posters. So, I heaved a sigh and read it.

I WAS BLOWN AWAY. Louis had such depth, such tragic humanity. And Lestat? What an ass. I hated him. He was cocky, he was mean, he was so in love with himself that he eclipsed the sun. That jerk had little regard for anyone else, no matter how much I wish he would.

I didn't realize he was setting himself up to be a Bad Boy. Uh oh. My first human crush was a Bad Boy. Unrequited love all the way for six solid years. I listened to more miserable music over him than I did for the boys I actually dated. That crush was my secret agony.

Lestat didn't disappoint. And, unrequited? Heck yeah. I still ache a little inside when I think of him (or when I see old Reutger Hauer movies.) I'd never invested myself in a character the way I did Lestat. I hadn't known it was possible.

It was tough but eventually I moved on and found other vampire crushes. Jean Claude: I never wanted him more than the way I did in the very first Anita Blake installment. That hint of a suggestion of a tease was a complete PHEROMONE. Eric Northman: I have not the words. (The suggestions, I got a million of them, but when I open my mouth, nothing comes out.)

There's Eric chum Bill Compton but he's off limits. That's Sookie's first vampire love. I understand the sacredness of that bond. Sookie needs to keep that all to herself, to keep it in her heart-shaped box and cherish it always. Eric, on the other hand, is free game. =)

Not all vampires aren't loveable. I know there are some really bad ones out there and some of them are downright Nosferatu. Some of them—like Still-Heart in my upcoming release BLEEDING HEARTS—are beautiful creatures but don't be fooled: inside is a demon. He may act like a Bad Boy but deep down, he's just bad.

In fact, all the vamps in my book are bad, bad, bad. But the Demivampire? Another story altogether. *wicked grin*

But don't worry…that story will be told when BLEEDING HEARTS: Book One of the Demimonde is released on March 15th through Pink Narcissus Press (http://pinknarc.com)

Follow this blog to stay up-to-date on release news—we'll be going on a Bleeding Hearts Blog Tour in March, with lots of fun giveaways and visits to incredible blogs.

And although the vampires in my book are better off left alone, there's plenty of crush-worthy vamps in countless other books to love. I mean, have you visited any of the other stops on this blog hop? ;)

Which leads me to…the CONTEST! I am nothing if not an enabler. Everyone has their own favorite flavor of vampire. It was really tough to decide what to give away on this blog hop. So I decided to give away a build-your-own-vampire-sundae of sorts by offering an ebook spending spree at Amazon!

You can enter to win a $25 gift card to that monstrous online bookstore—that way you have a little cash to pick up some of the other vampires you've met along this blog hop. The cherry on top of said sundae is an eARC of my soon-to-debut urban fantasy BLEEDING HEARTS: Book One of the Demimonde. You can visit my demivampires any time you want. ;)

What did I tell you? I'm an enabler.

You can enter to win my goodies by Liking my Facebook page. You can get up to three extra entries by following me in other places (you'll see the links on the Rafflecopter form.) If you've never entered a Rafflecopter giveaway, it's really easy: you sign in with either your Facebook profile or your email and just follow the easy steps to Winning Land. Good luck!