Flypaper Boy
I've scheduled some promotions for the next month.
January 11-15 the ebook of "Shooting Stars: A Teenage Vampire Love Story from a Boy's Perspective" will be free on Amazon.com
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00S98RVO8/ref=series_dp_rw_ca_1
January 25-29 the ebook of "Flypaper Boy: Coming of Age" will be free on Amazon.com
February 1-5 the ebook of Shooting Stars 3 "Blue Moon" will be free on Amazon.com
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CTDZKFQ/ref=series_rw_dp_sw
What's Happening Now.
So. In trying to find out if writing a blog every day was something that would help me sell books, I found out that it has no short term effect. I found I would only get new people reading my blog if I advertised it on twitter. The only person who came to my website and read my posts consistently was my daughter. Thanks, Lisa. Maybe longterm blogging will have an effect. Trying to come up with an idea every day was too hard. Maybe once a week.
In the last week I have finished editing the text of six episodes for the podcast novel, "The Pariah". I've recorded the first episode and I'm edeting it right now. I want to have at least three episodes completely done and ready to play at the end of the month (January). I want to post my first episode on Feb 6th.
I've signed up for the Grape Con, in Lodi, California for the 8th of Feb. It's a pretty small comic con, but it's a place for me to get used to taking to people about my books.
I got 25 copies of "Shooting Stars" to add to the 23 copies of "Flypaper Boy" to have at the con and I'll sell them for $9.99 instead of the regular $12.99. I ordered a iPhone credit card reader for Paypal, that I will have there so I can take credit card payments. I'll also have flyers about the Pariah Podcast and the Patreon.com compain for it.
"Shooting Stars" launches on January 26th. It's really already on Amazon, but I'd like to have people buy it on that day if at all possible. I have a Kindle Countdown starting on that day for "Flypaper Boy" so it will be selling for 99 cents. It will be 99 cents until Wednesday, when it will change to $1.99 and then back to $2.99 on Friday.
I paid for an advetisement for the first three days. I also paid for an ad for "Shooting Stars" whichi will be 99 cents for those first two days as well. I'm hoping the two books cross pollinate each other and boost sales over all. I'm also doing a book giveaway for Shooting Stars at good reads from now through launch day.
Finally, I'm giving away a Kindle Fire HD7 through a website that will administer the drawing and collect email addresses for me from an opt-in form they fill out while entering the give away and generating likes for my author's page on Facebook.
I added an author page on Amazon.com.
Trigger Warnings is still will the editor. The picture book idea sounded too risky for a publisher I talk with about it. I may try doing it for the Kindle with an application they have developed for picture books on the kindle.
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I'm extending the time period to get an extra two entries.
I didn't realize how many people would choose to buy the paperback. Since it took almost a week to get the copy, I'm adding an extra week to get the review in to Amazon.
So, any reviews on the Amazon page by October 12th will get the two extra entries.
I've already mentioned I'm giving away a Kindle Voyager to some lucky reader/reviewer who buys my book and writes an Honest review on Amazon.com.
To recap: The first person to review gets five entries into the pool. Anyone who gets an entry in the first week, that's before Sunday, October 5th at Midnight Pacific time. And after that, anyone who gets a review in before October 31st at midnight will get one entry.
Sweetening the deal: I like my book. I edited it five times before sending it to Jen Hendricks, and editor, and edited it again after she sent it back. I think I've made the effort and taken the time to make it the best I can, so far.
I will give another giveaway entry to anyone who is first to find an error and post it as a comment to this post. Misspelled words, misused words, and contradictions of myself, and whatever else you can find that is a legitimate error, add it below and I will tell you if I think you are right and if you are first.
Thank you for helping me make Flypaper Boy a better book.
Philip Carroll
I started this on Twitter yesterday and added to it on Facebook. I thought I'd put the list of them here for anyone of you non-existent followers to read in the future.
Burgerslovegan Fun Facts:
Burgerslovegia is a fictional country within the boarders of Ukraine.
Considering actual recent events in the eastern Ukraine, they moved their fictional borders as far west from Crimea as possible.
Their primary export is fictional wool products.
Their fictional sheep have a absurdly soft wool which commands a fictionally high price internationally.
Their fictional form of government is Socialism.
Vladamort Krompkitch is the fictional dictator or Burgerslovegia.
Vladamort believes his fictional daughter is safely hidden at Rosencranks.
Rosencranks is a fictional exclusive prep school north of Santa Belinda on the Southern California coast.
Rosencranks was named for a fictional General who retired near Santa Belinda after the Mexican-American war.
Esmeralda Flinch of the Women's Trade Federation knows the Krompkitch girl is at Rosencranks.
I want to bring some excitement to my book launch next week so I'm sweetening the deal.
I'll be giving away Trade Paperbacks of "Flypaper Boy: Coming of Age" through a contest on Goodreads.com and I will be giving away the brand new Kindle Voyager ebook reader.
Here's where you can find details about the reader. If you are making the leap into reading ebooks, this is the reader to get. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IOY8XWQ/ref=br_imp_ara-5?_encoding=UTF8&nav_sdd=aps&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=gateway-center-column&pf_rd_r=12A10K3JZQJDMZSFYNPE&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1924735102&pf_rd_i=507846#lost-in-story
Here's how my contest is going to work.
1) Buy Flypaper Boy: Coming of Age from the Kindle store at Amazon on September 29th. If you buy the paperback, the ebook is free until October 31st.
2) Read it.
3) Write an HONEST review on Amazon.com.
The first person to write a review will get five entries. Sorry family members and beta readers. It wouldn't be fair to let you have a head start.
But, if you're not first, don't despair. Anyone who gets an HONEST review posted in the first week, (by Sunday, October 5th at midnight pacific daylight time) will get three entries. After the first week reviews will get one drawing entry and I will accept entries until midnight, October 31st, 2014 pacific standard time.
I've already ordered the Voyager and because of demand it won't ship to me until November twenty something. But the winner should receive it shortly thereafter.
What is an HONEST review? I don't expect or want you to write a five star review just to try and win the reader. If you don't like the story, or superheroes aren't your thing, I expect you to say so in your review. II have to hear how you really feel to be able to get better at what I do or write something you do want to read.
If you haven't done so already, stop by my author site at www.facebook.com/AuthorPhilipCarroll and get the lowdown on launch day. Follow me there to get more regular updates as well as absurd observations about life.
Thanks for stopping by and keep checking back for news.
Here's the invitation I posted on Facebook. Everyone is welcome. Please come by and like my author page. It is: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorPhilipCarroll
Facebook Friend:
Please forgive this spam. It's the only time I will ever spam my personal friend list on Facebook. But, right now, you're the only friends I have and I really need your help.
You may have seen that I've been working on publishing my first novel for about the last year. Well, "Flypaper Boy: Coming of Age" is finally happening on September 29th on Amazon as an eBook for Kindle and as a publish-on-demand paperback through Createspace.com (An Amazon company).
If I can get enough sales on September 29th it will push my book onto other lists which will make it more visible to people I don't know.
The eBook for Kindle will be just $2.99. If you don't have a kindle there are free Kindle apps for every kind of phone and tablet in existence (probably. . .the big names for sure.) The POD paperback will be $12.99 and if you purchase it, you can get the eBook for free for the next thirty days.
What I need you to do:
1) Like and follow my author page. (This way I can spam you when my next book comes out.) That's https://www.facebook.com/PhilipCarrollAuthor.
2) Share this with your followers, your friends, enemies, family members, anyone with a pulse and an internet connection.
3) Stop by Amazon on Monday, September 29th and purchase a book. I should have the link up on my author site no later than Sunday the 28th. (You could just search for Flypaper Boy. I searched it on Google and didn't get any hits with those two words together. . .Big surprise?)
And that's it! Simple, huh?
The story is about a sixteen year old boy with a lame superpower. . .he sticks to things. He gets manipulated into believing he's actually a supervillain and agrees to help kidnap the teenage daughter of the President of an Eastern European nation called Burgerslovegia.
If you've read this far, thank you. I hope you'll join me on the 29th. If you have any questions or suggestions, I'd love to hear them.
It wasn't my intention to do the same kind of blog post a month after the last, but I though I should at least up date all of my nonexistent followers on where I am.
My plan was to have two books released by this date. Did it happen? Not that I know of...
No. Really. Learn and live. I've found it takes a lot more time than I thought to get things completely nailed down and ready to go. So now I'm aiming for Monday, September 22nd, the last day of summer, to be my launch day for "Flypaper Boy: Coming of Age". I have about thirty pages left to edit, then it's just a matter of getting it formatted for kindle and the cover art. I think it's doable.
So, Keep an eye out for information on my first run at amazon. I really need to push it up the charts on the first day if it is going to do me any substantial good as a first book.
Tell all your friends, all you imaginary people.
Thanks for reading this Lisa.