Category: Publishing/marketing

The power of promotion

It’s now a month since my third book, The Mages of Bennamore, was published, so this is a good time to look at the state of play. The previous book, The Fire Mages, was released in January with a long (13 day) promotion campaign, and it’s been selling well for four months. I’m signed up for Amazon’s exclusive Select program, which means readers in the Kindle Unlimited subscription service can borrow the books for free, and that’s kept things ticking over. However, sales + borrows had dropped to around 4 per day, and just 1 per day of my first book, The Plains of Kallanash. Promotion plan So I planned a similar, although shorter, promotion for the new release – just 7 days this time, including sites that have done well for me in the past, like BargainBooksy, EreaderCafe, OHFB and ENT. I set the price to $0.99 worldwide for […]

Posted June 14, 2015 by PaulineMRoss in Publishing/marketing / 6 Comments

‘The Fire Mages’ FREE today only!

Yes, you can get The Fire Mages completely free, from all Amazons worldwide. This offer is only for today, Sunday 24th June. Click here to buy from your local Amazon. You can still get The Mages of Bennamore for just $0.99 (or equivalent) but only for a couple more days. After that, it will be at its normal price of $3.99 (or equivalent). Readers in the US and UK will also be able to pick up The Plains of Kallanash for just $0.99 or £0.99 from 1st – 7th June. So many special offers! And if you already have the books – thank you, but please tell your friends about these deals.

Posted May 24, 2015 by PaulineMRoss in Publishing/marketing, The Fire Mages / 0 Comments

And it’s launched!

Yes, The Mages of Bennamore is on its way, down the slipway and into the vast ocean that is Amazon. The analogy isn’t so far wrong, since this book, the third of the Brightmoon Annals, is set on the southern coast and ships play a big part in the story. Things got off to a great start, with 34 pre-orders, almost double the number for The Fire Mages in January. Thank you to everyone who pre-ordered! I hope the book arrived safely in your Kindle or device, and that you enjoy the read. If you haven’t picked up a copy yet, it’s still at a special introductory price of just $0.99 (or equivalent) for the next week or so. For those who have Kindle Unlimited or Prime, you can download and read absolutely FREE. The paperback will be available soon, priced at $12.99 (or equivalent), and if you buy the […]

Posted May 16, 2015 by PaulineMRoss in Publishing/marketing, The Mages of Bennamore / 3 Comments

Coming soon! More magic, adventure and a little romance

It’s almost time! The Mages of Bennamore, the third book set in the Brightmoon world, will be published on Friday, May 15th. The price will be just $0.99 for a short time; the normal price will be $3.99. You can pre-order at your local Amazon right now and have the book delivered direct to your Kindle or device of choice at midnight. Kindle Unlimited subscribers will be able to download and read for free from Friday onwards. As always, a review after you’ve read the book would be very much appreciated, to help other readers decide whether they would like it. Reviews can be posted to Amazon, Goodreads or your own blog. The story starts just a few months after the events of The Fire Mages, but it’s a stand-alone book, with a completely different location and a new set of characters; you don’t need to have read either The […]

Posted May 10, 2015 by PaulineMRoss in Publishing/marketing, The Mages of Bennamore / 3 Comments

ARCs for ‘The Mages of Bennamore’

Hi everyone! I’m looking for people to read and review my latest epic fantasy, ‘The Mages of Bennamore’, due out May 15th. It features a woman with secrets, two very different men and a fragile political alliance that rapidly unravels. And plenty of magic, naturally! One beta reader said: “There was a good balance of action, adventure, drama, and comedy, and of course romance. Fen is a refreshing character. Her sass and her no-nonsense attitude make her appealing and funny.” It’s 443 pages long. If you’re interested, email me with your preferred format: mobi, epub or pdf. Here’s the blurb: A fragile peace. A clash of magic. A woman with secrets. The war between Bennamore and the coastal region was over almost before it began. But the uniquely powerful mage who forged the alliance is dead, and the coastal folk are restless. Now the victors are bringing their spellcraft to […]

Posted April 13, 2015 by PaulineMRoss in Publishing/marketing, The Mages of Bennamore / 0 Comments

Some Blog-Off News

In a recent blog post, I talked about Mark Lawrence’s brilliant idea to throw a slush-pile of self-published work at ten intrepid bloggers, and leave them to find just one from their twenty five to recommend. All ten bloggers would then read and review all the ten finalists. The bloggers have been sifting through their slush-piles, and deciding how to tackle their task. Some have picked at random, some have chosen by cover/blurb/title (the time-honoured method), one has divided her pile into more manageable piles of five. The first reviews are trickling in. All the details are on Mark’s blog. But there was an unexpected development. Another blogger, J R Karlsson of Fictiongarden.com, decided to join the fun, by looking at the entire pile of 250+ books. Quite a challenge! He eliminated some that he’d read already, or were on the site’s ‘recommended’ list. He eliminated some more on the […]

Posted March 24, 2015 by PaulineMRoss in Publishing/marketing, The Plains of Kallanash / 2 Comments

For US/UK readers: ‘The Fire Mages’ at a special price this week!

If you haven’t already picked up a copy of The Fire Mages or you know anyone who’d enjoy it, this is a great time to buy – at the US Amazon, it’s just $0.99 and in the UK it’s £0.99. These prices are only available for a few days, and I’m sorry, but they only apply to the US and UK. If you already own a copy – thank you very much! When you finish reading it, a review on Amazon or Goodreads would be very much appreciated. To buy from your local Amazon, click here. In other news… The Mages of Bennamore has finished its final editing, and is now with my wonderful proofreader, Lin, who fixes my typos and corrects all my wayward punctuation. Once that’s done, the book will go up for pre-order at Amazon, ready for publication on May 15th. The next book in the Brightmoon […]

Posted March 22, 2015 by PaulineMRoss in Publishing/marketing / 2 Comments

The great self-published blog-off

Following some discussion about the difficulties of promotion for self-published authors, Mark Lawrence, author of the Broken Empire series, came up with a great idea: get some established fantasy bloggers lined up, and throw self-published books at them, 25 apiece, with a six month window to work through their ‘slush pile’ and find just one book to promote. The chosen books would then be looked at by all the bloggers and rated, to produce an overall winner. Mark threw the idea out into the blogosphere, chose 10 bloggers from the many who volunteered, accepted submissions from self-published authors, randomly assigned each to a blogger and sat back to watch the fun. Now, I’m not big on competitions, and writing competitions, in particular, seem to be more subjective than most. However, the opportunity to have my book at least looked at by a blogger who wouldn’t normally even consider a self-published […]

Posted March 11, 2015 by PaulineMRoss in Publishing/marketing, The Plains of Kallanash / 2 Comments

‘The Fire Mages’ launch: promotion results

My first epic fantasy book, ‘The Plains of Kallanash’, was published in September with no promotion, apart from me wittering excitedly on social media. It performed exactly as you might suspect (around 60 sales in the first month before flatlining, and only 3 reviews). I always intended to delay heavy promotion until I had at least three books out, but the new book, ‘The Fire Mages’, is a much more marketable candidate (coming of age, young girl finding her powers, loads of magic), so I wanted to give it a bit of a head-start without pushing the boat out financially. The plan was to keep it at $0.99 for the first two weeks after release, combining that with some promotion every day. The first week would be smaller sites, with the big hitters in the second week. The objective was to generate steady sales which would give the book some […]

Posted February 10, 2015 by PaulineMRoss in Publishing/marketing, The Fire Mages / 3 Comments

‘The Fire Mages’ still at a special low price

Just a reminder that ‘The Fire Mages’ is still available at the new-release price of $0.99. To buy, click the link in the box at the right, which takes you to your local Amazon. You have a few more days to buy before it goes to the normal price of $3.99. If you’ve already bought it – thank you! Please tell your friends about it, too. And if you’ve read it, an honest review on Amazon, Goodreads or your blog would be very much appreciated, to help other readers decide if they would enjoy it. The book has had a few reviews already. Here’s a snippet from the first to hit Amazon.com: “The main characters were more authentic than I think you usually get in fantasy stories, but just like Robin Hobb, Ross is a master at crafting authentic characters. This story had everything I look for in a fantasy […]

Posted January 17, 2015 by PaulineMRoss in Publishing/marketing, The Fire Mages / 2 Comments