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Archive for the ‘indie publishing’ Category

Refocusing on middle grade fiction

Posted in author branding, Author platforms, collaboration, Education, indie publishing, marketing books, middle grade fiction, Online writing courses, platform, Podcasts, series writing, starting over, Time to write, tagged , , on June 13, 2016| Leave a Comment »

 

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There’s a little bit of refocusing going on behind the scenes of our site. My three writing books will be available soon, the first which being our free gift to anyone subscribing to my podcast, Writer on the Road, where Cracker will be one of my first and ongoing (if he let’s me win) guests!!

This site will once again be about middle grade fiction as Cracker and I share our writing trials, tribulations and downright fun bits of collaborative writing and reliving our sibling squables, getting the better of each other, and me always winning writing journey.

You’ll all be excited to know Cracker and I have agreed to get cracking (sorry, couldn’t resist) on Book 4 of our Cracker & Gilly Mystery Series and it will be quickly followed by books 5, 6 & 7. Our aim is a baker’s dozen and Book 1, Forbidden, will be our gift for anyone signing up to our Growing Up Writing newsletter.

On the marketing front, I’ve been busy upskilling. My education has included the following courses:

  1.  Creative Freedom with Joanna Penn
  2. Your First 10,000 Customers with Nick Stephenson
  3. Facebook Advertising (new) with Mark Dawson
  4. ebook bestsellers audio course with Derek Doepker

So, to sum up, I can write, produce, market, sell foreign rights, record audio and write some more. Or I will be able to once my kids leave home😇😇

Wadaya reckon, Cracker, you ready?

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Good News for Indie Authors…again!!

Posted in book publishing, collaboration, Goal setting, indie publishing, middle grade fiction, Series fiction, writing and money, writing fiction, tagged , , on June 4, 2016| Leave a Comment »

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From the latest Author Earnings Report over at http://www.authorearnings.com:

‘When we look at just debut authors from the past five years, we find more indie authors now earning a $50K-or-better living wage than all of their Big Five and Small/Medium publisher peers put together… even after we throw in that overgenerous 2x multiple for traditionally-published non-Amazon revenue.’

Looks like it was a smart business model to keep our author rights, hey Cracker? Now, all we’ve gotta do is get our audio books and foreign rights happening and we can split the 50K profits, whaddaya reckon?

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Writer on the Road

Posted in book tours, Choosing the writing life, indie publishing, location free living, middle grade fiction, mining stories, RV lifestyle, West Australian goldfields, tagged , , , , , on May 2, 2016| Leave a Comment »

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This is the logo for my ‘Writer on the Road’ interviews…like it?? Our book touring schedule is Townsville in July/July, 2016, Bateman’s Bay for the Bateman’s Bay Writers Festival in September, 2016, and our biggie, a two month trip across the Nullabor to the wilds of Western Australia and Norseman to launch Money, Murder and Other Men’s Wives, starting December, 2016. Note the interesting correlation between these dates and school holidays. That’s the trouble with teaching, it limits my playtime:)

 

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Gypsies, tramps and thieves – my first online course

Posted in Choosing the writing life, homeschooling, indie publishing, Online writing courses, RV lifestyle, Uncategorized, writer entrepreneurs, tagged on March 17, 2016| Leave a Comment »

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My first online course is almost ready…I’ve decided to call it “Gypsies, tramps and thieves: the romance of writing on the road”…what do you think of the title?

 

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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 , , , , , , on February 17, 2016| 1 Comment »

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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?

 

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A Little Bit of Romance

Posted in Author platforms, indie publishing, Inspiration, romance novels, romance writing, Stories, writing fiction, Writing romantic fiction, tagged , , on February 13, 2016| Leave a Comment »

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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.

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My favourite writing tools

Posted in Goal setting, indie publishing, writing tools, tagged , , , , , , , , , on February 7, 2016| Leave a Comment »

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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!

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Anything and everything by Joanna Penn but this course is perfect for me right now as I scale up my business.

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I learn something new every day with Scrivener and Joseph Michel’s Learn Scivener Fast is indispensible.

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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

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Strategies for selling elephants

Posted in indie publishing, marketing books, tagged , , , on February 6, 2016| Leave a Comment »

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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🌷🌷🌷

 

 

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10 things you need to know before turning pro

Posted in book publishing, Choosing the writing life, indie publishing, Time to write, writing fiction, writing inspiration, writing life, tagged , , , on January 9, 2016| Leave a Comment »

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  1. Attitude matters
  2. Education is an investment
  3. Giving is better than receiving
  4. Values cultivate respect
  5. Word-count matters – without content you have no business – see  Turning Pro by Steven Pressfield
  6. There is no such thing as perfection
  7. No one is laughing at you, in fact, most of us a rooting for you
  8. If at first you don’t succeed – see ‘The 1000 Day Rule: What Living the Dream Really Looks Like’ by Dan Andrews
  9. Surround yourself with experts (Jane Friedeman, Janna Penn and Dan Blank to name a few)
  10. Look back and see how far you’ve come – celebrate!!

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Writing on the road…goals and ambitions for 2016

Posted in Choosing the writing life, Fiction, indie publishing, location free living, marketing fiction, middle grade fiction, romance writing, series writing, simply writing, Time to write, writing fiction, writing life, Writing romantic fiction, tagged , , , , , , on January 8, 2016| 2 Comments »

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Every new year brings good intentions and great ambitions. This year, it’s eight novels, equalling 480,000 words, with the grand title of Project Romance: Around Australia in 8 Romances.

With such an ambitious project, I’ve invested in a few tools to help me. One is Joel Friedlander’s Book Planner which will help keep my book publishing schedule on track. The other is Joanna Penn’s Creative Freedom Course,

You can follow my progress and learn about my fun with Book Planner and Creative Freedom over at http://www.melhammomd.com. If you subscribe to my email list you will receive a weekly email with my tips and lessons learned as I try to meet my self-imposed challenge for 2016.

Here at Growing Up Writing we’ll be focusing on marketing, both my adult books, and our Cracker & Gilly series, as well as leaning the processes of creating audible books.

Oh, and I’ve just subscribed to Jason Kong’s newsletter, Storyrally, an online Marketing For Fiction Writers forum.

See you on the road.

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