Instafreebie’s New App

A hand is holding a cell phone and the post title 'Instafreebie's New App' is superimposed on the left side of the photo

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

In the early days of digital reading, we had to carry a device around to read on.  I still have two very early model kindles at home.

But now it makes so much more sense to be able to read on our phones.  We’re already carrying the devices and we’ll always have something to read if we have an app…no need to try and remember to bring an extra device along.  I’ve found that I get so much more reading now that I’ve got my book with me wherever I go (and reading is vital to writing).

The problem my mother had with devices and phones was how to get her book onto the device. I wrote her a detailed set of instructions, but it was still difficult for her.  She had librarians show her how to put library books on her kindle account, but it never really sunk in.

During giveaways, I’ve found that there are plenty of my readers who faced similar confusion about transferring the books to their phones or devices. I tried to walk them through it, but it was always tricky.  I’ve found that Instafreebie has helped a lot.  I’m able to provide readers (giveaway readers, ARC readers, the occasional disgruntled reader) with links to the free books and Instafreebie’s instructions (and support) are usually enough to guide them through the process.Continue reading

Evaluating a Series

A flock of sheep are heading in a line toward the right with a blue sky in the background and the post title, 'Evaluating a Series' superimposed on the top.

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Back at the start of the Memphis Barbeque and the Southern Quilting mysteries, I didn’t worry at all about planning the length of the series. That’s because I knew the fate of the series was in the hands of Penguin.  If they decided to end the series, they would.

And I was right…sort of.  Penguin did decide to end the Memphis series because my editor had left the publisher and I was ‘orphaned’ (and because due to the nature of our contract, I couldn’t get my character rights back).  But I wasn’t exactly right about the Southern Quilting mysteries.  Penguin decided not to continue the series in print (asking me to consider a digital-only contract after 5 books)…but I decided to take the fate of the series into my own hands and requested a reversion of rights.  I’ve published two more books in that series myself, and am working on book 8 now.

The Myrtle Clover series, which I took back from Midnight Ink after the first book,  currently has 11 books in the series.Continue reading

Confirming Newsletter Subscriptions After Group Giveaways

A hand holds a cell phone with 'newsletter' on the screen. The post title, "Confirming Subscriptions after Group Giveaways" is on the right hand side of the photo.

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I have mixed feelings about group giveaways that are geared to grow newsletter subscribers.

I’ve had success in the past with the (very few) times that I’ve participated in group giveaways.  My bounce rates and unsubscribes stayed pretty low.  I think this is a testament to the fact that 1) I rarely send email newsletters and 2) the groups I joined had books very similar to mine.

But I still always felt like I was spamming unsuspecting readers–even though they had expressly agreed to sign up for all the authors’ newsletters in exchange for the chance to win a grand prize.

Additionally…and this is me being cheap, as usual…my email list is of such a size now that I have a paid plan on Mailchimp.  I don’t particularly want to waste my money sending out release newsletters to a disinterested recipient (a.k.a., someone who didn’t seek to sign up for my newsletter and mine alone).  To be clear, I do segment my lists, sending new subscribers a different newsletter than other segments.  But this is still pricy (and time consuming, to boot).Continue reading

Twitterific Writing Links

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by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Twitterific writing links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 40,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

Have you visited the WKB lately?  Check out the new redesign where you can browse by category, and sign up for free writing articles, on topics you choose, delivered to your email inbox!  Sign up for the Hiveword newsletter here.

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