Archive for February, 2016
Living the writing dream under a fullish moon
Posted in Choosing the writing life, tagged indie publishing, The writing life on February 23, 2016| Leave a Comment »
He thought he could swim: the hopes, dreams and ambitions of Diver Smurf
Posted in collaboration, Goal setting, indie publishing, middle grade fiction, series writing, writing life, tagged Boxed sets, dreams, editing fiction, Goal setting, marketing middle grade fiction, middle grade fiction, writing on February 17, 2016| 1 Comment »
This is a story about a book, well, three books really, and a boxed set, and dreams of riches and infamy, and it goes like this:
Once upon a time we had an idea, and another one, and another one, so we wrote ’em down and turned ’em into books, and people bought ’em, well, some people bought some of ’em, and I’m guessing they would have bought all of ’em if we had kept the dream alive.
But
Editing needed to be done
And time passed
And like all once upon a time stories, our dream disappeared into Netherland with Peter Pan and stayed a childhood fantasy forever
Until one day, reality hit. Dreams only become reality if you do the work.
Or, in Diver Smurf’s case, learn to swim.
Merinda’s Gold, Book 3 of our Cracker Mystery Series, is alive and swimming towards publication.
Anyone wanna buy a boxed set?
A Little Bit of Romance
Posted in Author platforms, indie publishing, Inspiration, romance novels, romance writing, Stories, writing fiction, Writing romantic fiction, tagged Australian fiction, Romance Writing, writing feedback on February 13, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Claim your little bit of romance reading by subscribing my weekly newsletter over at http://www.melhammond.com where I’ll be posting updates on my latest project, Around Australia in 8 Romances.
The first three chapters of Coming Home, set on North Queensland’s most beautiful island, Magnet Island, is yours for joining (as soon as I learn how to upload it) and I’ll be looking for feedback. For those of you who have already subscribed, don’t worry, I will make sure you’re included.
The official launch for Coming Home is June, 2016, and a free copy will be my thank you to you for your contribution and support.
Melinda Hammond and me – the ultimate insult of Amazon
Posted in Choosing the writing life, marketing books, platform, pseudonyns, romance writing, starting over, writing life, Writing romantic fiction, tagged amazon, indie publishing, Melinda Hammond, middle grade fiction, Richard Hammond, The writing life, What's in a name? on February 9, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Just received this email from Amazon’s automated preference service. Alas, no The Miner’s Wife.
A bit sad really, if it wasn’t kind of funny…can’t wait to see what happens to my ‘Around Australia in 8 Romances’, except I’ve wised up and they will be published under Mel Hammond.
And to make matters worse, my co-author is equally as infamous, sort of…ever heard of a bloke who carried a fridge around Ireland??
From here on in just call us Lindy and Dick😇
My favourite writing tools
Posted in Goal setting, indie publishing, writing tools, tagged books and writing, Business, indie publishing, Joanna Penn, Joel Friedlander, joseph michael, marketing books, the freedom journal, writer entrepreneurs, writing on February 7, 2016| Leave a Comment »
I can’t wait for my copy of The Freedom Journal to arrive. Goal-setter is my new middle name now that I am totally reliant on my business for my income. Gulp!
Anything and everything by Joanna Penn but this course is perfect for me right now as I scale up my business.
I learn something new every day with Scrivener and Joseph Michel’s Learn Scivener Fast is indispensible.
And finally, Joel Friedlander at The Book Designer, from his templates to his media kit and no his Book Planner. I haven’t tried his Book Launch Toolkit but I’m guessing that will be my next investment
Strategies for selling elephants
Posted in indie publishing, marketing books, tagged Allan Dib, Entrepreneurs, marketing, writing on February 6, 2016| Leave a Comment »
In The 1 Page Marketing Plan, Allan Dib defines marketing as the strategy for getting your ideal market to know you, like you and trust you enough to become a customer.
He talks about the strategy for selling elephants which if you want to know the whole then you need to buy the book because my paraphrasing could get a bit dodgy.
But basically it goes like this: advertising is saying that a circus is coming to town and it has an elephant, publicity is when the elephant escapes and the local media write a story about it, and promotion is when the mayor tells the story about the elephant escaping and squashing the town’s prized dahlias when he opens the circus. A strategy is when you plan the whole thing.
And to think the elephant looks so innocent🌷🌷🌷
growing up writing 