A self-published author's diary, Self publishing, Self-pub corner

A Self-Published Author’s Diary: a little March recap…

Elodie

If you’re signed up to receive my weekly emails and you are using Gmail, make sure to check your promotion tab…As always I share exclusive content in the emails. 🙂

Today is all about keeping track. Sometimes, I get so deep into all the tasks involved with each project that it can get difficult to remember all those projects that I did bring to fruition within a month, especially since I’m trying to be more strategic…

Talking about business, if you want to support me, my career and these weekly posts, the best way to do so is to either (1) purchase one of my books or audiobooks or recommend them on Overdrive to your library, (2) forward the post to a friend, (3) sign up to my readers’ newsletter if you’re interested about my books and my writing, (3) subscribe to my weekly emails about self-publishing, (4) talk about my books to your friends/family.

What books and audiobooks did I publish?

  1. Published the A SUMMER LIKE NO OTHER audiobook narrated by the wonderful Megan Carter. In terms of marketing, I’m trying a Buy One, Get One Free promo. Will keep you updated. I still need to announce it to my newsletter. But I did announce it on my blog and on Goodreads and I took advantage of a very good wordpress deal to make this website.
  2. Published a new German/English bilingual book: announced it to the German subscribers of my newsletter, announced it to my blog, and am currently boosting one of my Facebook posts to an audience of English-learning and English instructors in Germany also interested in reading and romance novels on Facebook.
  3. Published another new bilingual book (French/Italian). I still need to announce it on my French website.
  4. Put up Eine Zweite Chance (Always Second Best in German) for pre-order.
  5. Published a new English/Spanish bilingual book: announced it on my blog.

What courses did I take in March?

  1. Marketing-related: I’m still listening to Mark Dawson’s Ads for Authors course.
  2. Marketing-related: Took a FREE Goodreads online webinar by Alessandra Torre. I am sharing a link in my email. Will be sharing more about that course soon and some strategies that I am trying. I know. Goodreads. But trying a different approach.
  3. Writing-related: Started reading through the Margie Lawson course packet about visceral rules (beyond hammering hearts).

What movie/post/documentary about writing did I watch/read?

  1. One of my very good friends who also happen to be a writer friend recommended the Naughty Books documentary on Hulu. It was very interesting! Lots of thoughts.
  2. This post by Erin Bowman on publishing on Instagram: Author Friends, are you okay?

What marketing/advertising did I do in March?

  1. Boosted a few posts on Facebook – it created more traffic towards some of my books.
  2. I changed some of my books to Kindle Unlimited and ran a free promo on them (more info in my weekly email. :-))

Sales data such as info on which format/countries are currently my best-selling countries are available to my weekly emails’ subscribers.

I am also dipping my toes back on Instagram by joining Dahlia Adler‘s #AuthorLifeMonth2021…

And then I wrote. Maybe I didn’t write as much as I wanted to, but I did write. And I think I wrote one of my favorite sentences…I think I am going to be sharing that sentence very soon. But trying to be more strategic about it. (Ha, full circle with the first paragraph). 🙂

Quick reminder: if you want to support me, my career and this weekly posts, the best way to do so is to either (1) purchase one of my books or audiobooks or recommend them on Overdrive to your library, (2) forward the post to a friend, (3) talk about my books to your friends/family.

A couple of weeks ago, I shared with my top 3 self-publishing mistakes, if you’d like to get a FREE pdf of my top 5 self-publishing mistakes and receive weekly emails from me: just click here or on this cover, add your email and you’ll get access to the full pdf…

Thank you for reading!

Did you enjoy this post? Do you want to help support me and my writing? You can forward this blog post to someone who might be interested, buy my books and/or audiobooks and as always, don’t hesitate to leave me a comment.

If you have any questions about my adventures in self-publishing or anything I shared with you today, don’t hesitate to reach out and I’ll make sure to reply in my email next week.

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bilingual books

Lernst du Englisch? Are you learning German? The one with a new bilingual book (zweisprachiges Buch)…

Elodie

Eine zweite Chance (Teil 1) – A second chance (Part 1)

(Bilingual book: German – English / Zweisprachiges Buch: Deutsch – Englisch).

Lernst du Englisch? Are you learning German?
This book can help you with that: one page in English, one page in German …
Dieses Buch kann dir dabei helfen: eine Seite auf Englisch, eine Seite auf Deutsch…

Amazon.de / Amazon.com – iBook – Google Play – Kobo – B&N

EINE ZWEITE CHANCE TEIL 1 (Kapitel 1 – Kapitel 25) – A SECOND CHANCE PART 1 (Chapter 1 – Chapter 25)

Manchmal ist eine zweite Chance nicht das, was man erwartet.
Manchmal bekommt man eine zweite Chance auf die Liebe.

Die siebzehnjährige Ballerina Emilia Moretti ist es leid, immer nur die Zweitbeste zu sein. Und sie wird der Welt beweisen, dass sie es verdient, Erste zu sein. In der kommenden Show der Hochschule für Darstellende Kunst. Für ihre leiblichen Eltern. Und im Herzen fürf den Kerl, den sie liebt.
Aber als nichts so läuft wie geplant, muss sie erkennen, was es wirklich bedeutet, Erste zu sein.

Der achtzehnjährige Nick Grawski will nicht mehr den Regeln seines Vaters folgen. Er wird beweisen, dass er dazu bestimmt ist, ein Tänzer zu sein – kein Anwalt – und er wird sich nicht von Em fernhalten, nur weil sein Vater es verlangt. Selbst als ihre Welt einstürzt, auch als er herausfindet, dass sein Vater nur versucht hat, ihn zu schützen, auch als es härter ist, für einander da zu sein als sich zu verlieben.

Sometimes, you don’t expect a second chance.
Sometimes, you get a second chance at love.

Seventeen-year-old ballerina Emilia Moretti is tired of always being second best. And she’s going to prove the world she deserves to be first. In her upcoming School of the Performing Arts showcase. In the eyes of her birth parents. And in the heart of the guy she loves. 
But when nothing goes the way she planned, she’ll need to realize what it really means to be first.

Eighteen-year-old Nick Grawski doesn’t want to follow Daddy Dearest’s rules any longer. He’s going to prove he’s meant to be a dancer—not a lawyer—and he is not going to stay away from Em just because his father demands it. Even when her world goes down to shit, even when he finds out his dad may have been trying to protect him all along, even if being there for one another is harder than falling in love.

Grab your copy now and keep reading 🙂

Amazon.de / Amazon.com – iBook – Google Play – Kobo – B&N

Other bilingual books (German/English) – Andere zweisprachige Buecher (Deutsch / Englisch)

In diesem einen Sommer / A Summer Like No Other

Lernst du Englisch? Are you learning German? This book can help you with that: one page in English, one page in German …Dieses Buch kann dir dabei helfen: eine Seite auf Englisch, eine Seite auf Deutsch…

Sie ist die kleine Schwester seines besten Freundes. Er ist der größte Casanova von allen. Sie sollten nicht zusammen sein. Aber dieser Sommer ist zu verlockend. 

She’s his best friend’s little sister. He’s the biggest player of them all.
They shouldn’t be together. But this summer’s just too tempting.

Amazon.de – Kindle (US) – Paperback – iBooks – Kobo – Google Play

Alles für einen Traum / Only One Dream

Alles für einen Traum / Only One Dream (Zweisprachige Ausgabe: Englisch-Deutsch): Bilingual Book: English/German (German Edition)

Lernst du Englisch? Are you learning German?

This book can help you with that: one page in English, one page in German …Dieses Buch kann dir dabei helfen: eine Seite auf Englisch, eine Seite auf Deutsch…

Amazon around the world – Barnes & Noble – Google Play – iTunes – Kobo –Hugendubel

She thought she was on her way to the top…
Sixteen-year-old Natalya Pushkaya has one dream and one dream only: becoming the best ballerina ever. Dancing’s always been who she is and she’s working her hardest to land the main role of the School of Performing Arts’ end-of-the-year showcase. But…will she make it?
Within a week, Natalya’s life will be changed forever.
Prequel novelette of One, Two, Three

—–

Sie hatte sich schon auf dem Weg zur Spitze gesehen…
Die 16-jährige Natalya Pushkaya hat nur einen einzigen Traum:
die beste Ballerina zu werden, die es je gegeben hat.
Das Tanzen hat schon immer bestimmt, wer sie ist und sie würde alles tun, um die Hauptrolle in der jährlichen Abschlussvorstellung
der School of Performing Arts zu landen.
Aber…wird es ihr gelingen?
Innerhalb einer Woche ändert sich Natalyas Leben für immer.
Prequel der Novelle Eins, Zwei, Drei

Live, Love, Dance / Leben, Lieben, Tanzen

Amazon.de – Kindle – Paperback – iTunes – Kobo

Lernst du Englisch? Are you learning German? This book can help you with that: one page in English, one page in German … Dieses Buch kann dir dabei helfen: eine Seite auf Englisch, eine Seite auf Deutsch…

Sie hat alles verloren. Kann sie noch an Liebe glauben? She lost everything, can she still believe in love?

Keep reading…:-)

Follow me on Instagram – Bookbub – Facebook – Twitter – Goodreads …

I have two newsletters!

(1) My weekly self-publishing emails: A Self-published author’s diary…

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(2) A newsletter for my readers: full of bonus scenes, updates on my books, shows I’m watching, books I’m reading, exclusive giveaways and more…

Click on this link and just add your email and you’ll receive access to a page full of exclusive content! Plus my emails include pictures of my cat and my dog…and they’re pretty adorable…:-)

Audiobooks

Did you hear? A SUMMER LIKE NO OTHER audiobook is now available! Plus buy one, get one free!

Elodie

Do you like summer romances? Are you a fan of the brother’s best friend trope? Or maybe you enjoy the friends-to-lovers trope? Listen to the book that readers have called “amazing”. and a “must-read”…narrated by the wonderful Megan Carter.

Plus, it’s less than $8 on most e-retailers like Google Play, Chirp & iTunes! It is also available on Audible, Amazon, BingeBooks, Kobo, Walmart.

AND it is BOGO time. Buy one, get one free for a limited time!

Purchase a SUMMER LIKE NO OTHER by May 15th, send me proof of purchase (elodie@elodienowodazkij.com or by filling out this form) and you will either:

(a) be able to gift one copy of the A SUMMER LIKE NO OTHER audiobook to one of your friends (available in USA, EU, UK, Canada, and Australia with AuthorsDirect as well as other countries with the Bookfunnel app)

OR

(b) receive the follow-up audiobook ALWAYS SECOND BEST for free as soon as it is available (available in USA, EU, UK, Canada, and Australia with AuthorsDirect as well as other countries with the Bookfunnel app)!

Listen to an excerpt right here, right now. 🙂

A SUMMER LIKE NO OTHER retail sample…

She’s his best friend’s little sister. He’s the biggest player of them all.
They shouldn’t be together. But this summer’s just too tempting.

Sixteen-year-old Emilia Moretti’s goal for the summer is simple: forget her brother’s best friend—Nick Grawsky—ever existed. It should be easy: He’s spending his summer in the Hamptons, adding girls in tiny bikinis to his list of broken hearts. This summer, Emilia won’t stay awake at night thinking about him. She’ll need flawless ballet movements to have a shot at next year’s showcase, and she’s finally ready to search for her birth parents. But when Nick decides to stay in the city, Emilia’s resolve disappears in a pirouette. Maybe it’s the spin they needed to be together. As long as she doesn’t get stuck believing in happily ever after…

Nick is tired of pretending to be the happy, let’s-have-fun guy. His father wants him to change his career from professional dancer to…lawyer. He needs to put all of his focus on dancing to prove to Daddy Dearest he’s good enough to make it big. And he may have a case of the bluest balls in history courtesy of Emilia. She’s off-limits: The bro code with Roberto even forbids the dirty thoughts he has about her. Besides, he’s not boyfriend material. He only has time for flings, for girls who don’t expect much, for girls he doesn’t want to kiss goodnight. He knows he should resist her, but he’s not sure he wants to…

At least for this summer.
It’s going to be a summer like no other.

It is available on Google Play, Chirp, iTunes, Audible, Amazon, BingeBooks, Kobo, Walmart.

You can add it on Goodreads and/or Bookbub.

As always, thanks for reading!

Follow me on Instagram – Bookbub – Facebook – Twitter – Goodreads

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(1) My weekly self-publishing emails: A Self-published author’s diary…SIGN UP FOR MY WEEKLY SELF-PUBLISHING EMAILS

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(2) A newsletter for my readers: full of bonus scenes, updates on my books, shows I’m watching, books I’m reading, exclusive giveaways and more…

A self-published author's diary, Self publishing, Self-pub corner

A Self-Published Author’s Diary: The Groundhog Day of Formatting and lip synching…

Elodie

If you’re signed up to receive my weekly emails and you are using Gmail, make sure to check your promotion tab…As always I share exclusive content in the emails. 🙂

Sometimes, formatting bilingual books feels like a Groundhog day. It starts over and over again and even if I feel like I have perfected the process, there are still issues. I have files that are called UPDATE 1, UPDATE 2, UPDATE 3….and so on and so on. Formatting bilingual books is slightly more complicated, in my view, than formatting my regular manuscripts, just because I have to ensure those pesky page breaks actually happen when they’re supposed to.

And some of you might ask, “But Elodie, why don’t you use all of this time to write and publish original content?” And this is a great question. Because I have plenty of ideas. I have ideas about a series, I’m finishing writing my first rom-com and I’m planning this as a series of standalone novels. So, I have ideas. And I am writing, albeit maybe not as much as I’d like to.

But I know that my bilingual books generate income.

And while I am developing a strategy (which I will share with you on this blog and more in detail in my weekly email) for my upcoming novels and series, I know that working on those bilingual manuscripts is helpful to my business. And as a language learner (currently learning Russian on Duolingo for 250 days straight :-)) and former language teacher, I love that those bilingual books might help people who are learning a language.

Talking about languages, I saw this post on Instagram the other day that really resonated and thought I’d share it with you all. It says, “If someone is speaking to you in a foreign accent, they are smart enough to know two languages and brave enough to do their job in their second.” 

Anyways…I spent a lot of hours this week finalizing another English/German book and this was only a tiny portion of the work that I needed to do for this particular book. And I’m happy to report that I did manage to publish EINE ZWEITE CHANCE (TEIL 1) / A SECOND CHANCE (PART 1) – Zweisprachiges Buch Deutsch / Englisch – Bilingual book: German / Englisch. (Amazon.de, Amazon.com, Google Play, iTunes, Kobo…)

To publish this book, I needed to:

(1) Using the manuscript in English and the manuscript in German, format the bilingual edition (manually) with one page in German and the corresponding text in English on the other side.

(2) Have a freelancer language specialist proofread the German translation one more time.

(3) Go through all the changes, review and implement the chances in the translation.

(4) Ensure that the pdf interior has the correct formatting. (that took FOREVER as every single time I would upload the word document, there was something wrong with it…one tab too many and that can really mess with the formatting. I use Draft2Digital to make the interior of the book.

(4) Design the cover.

(5) Add a series page on Kindle Direct Publishing, Draft2Digital and Google Play for “Zweisprachiges Buch Englisch Deutsch Nick & Em”.

(6) Add all the metadata on all platforms (summary, keywords, categories and so on…)

(7) Upload the files for the ebooks.

(8) Create the paperback in Kindle Direct Publishing…

As mentioned…the formatting can be slightly frustrating at times. If my husband would read this, he would chuckle at the “slightly”. 🙂

Some videos of the actual process are included in my weekly email...

But the process can also be fun. 🙂 While I cannot listen to music when I am actually in the process of copying and pasting the German text to fit the English text and vice versa, I do sing very badly or lip synch in this case, when I’m making sure the format is correct (headings where there’s supposed to be headings, page break at the right spot, no extra paragraph…).

I am sharing a video of my lip synching one of the Bridgerton’s musical demo song in my weekly email too..:-)

And this was a bit of behind-the-scenes of a tiny portion of the work behind my latest bilingual book.

Last week, I shared with my top 3 self-publishing mistakes, if you’d like to get a FREE pdf of my top 5 self-publishing mistakes and receive weekly emails from me: just click here or on this cover, add your email and you’ll get access to the full pdf…

Thank you for reading!

Did you enjoy this post? Do you want to help support me and my writing? You can forward this blog post to someone who might be interested, buy my books and/or audiobooks and as always, don’t hesitate to leave me a comment.

If you have any questions about my adventures in self-publishing or anything I shared with you today, don’t hesitate to reach out and I’ll make sure to reply in my email next week.

You can click here to start receiving those weekly emails or add your email below.

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A self-published author's diary, Self publishing, Self-pub corner

A Self-Published Author’s Diary: my Top 3 self-publishing mistakes…

Elodie

My top 3 Self-Publishing Mistakes…

Thanks for reading this post… If you just stumbled on this blog, I started self-publishing in 2014, so I got quite a few years of experience and made many mistakes along the way. And while I’m sharing my top 3 self-publishing mistakes on this blog, I am sharing my top 5 self-publishing mistakes in my weekly email. If you’d like to receive those as pdf and join my weekly email, just click here.

Before getting into my top 3 self-publishing mistakes, I’d like to share information on how to help stop hate against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. The rise in hate crimes against AAPI in the US has been staggering, but it’s not a new phenomenon. This post by USA bestselling author Tif Marcelo on Instagram is a must-read: “Don’t Avert Your Gaze” (please read it, and please don’t avert your gaze). As I was looking for more resources to share, Susan Dennard’s newsletter landed in my inbox with those words and the links below: “Please, educate yourself on AAPI racism. Please, speak up when you see it in action. And if you can, please donate to causes that can help.” I know I’m planning on doing all of those things. And I will keep on looking for resources as well. If you have any, don’t hesitate to let me know.

What are my top 3 self-publishing mistakes?

How many times can I say self-publishing mistakes in this post? I mean the first one I mention I feel is a publishing mistake many authors can make. And let me preface this by saying that I love daydreaming. I still daydream.

  1. Thinking my book would become an instant best-selling success – just because it was good. Let me tell you, that’s not enough 😊. Rationally speaking, I knew it might not be the case, but I thought that most of the early reviews were so positive, even from people I had never met! That was mind-blowing, and I did daydream quite a bit. I still do daydream very often. I sometimes fall asleep dreaming about my books being picked up by Netflix or the Lifetime Movies Channel. Or I daydream about my Gavert City audiobook series being downloaded thousands of times with people raving about Megan’s narration (which they already do, but now we’d have thousands of downloads daily 😊). Anyways…back in 2014, a little part of me thought maybe I’d be that overnight success. The one people talk about, not realizing that overnight usually means years of writing and sometimes years of publishing. I read at the time about authors succeeding in self-publishing, but (a) I didn’t really define what succeeding would mean, (b) I didn’t have benchmarks.

    Don’t get me wrong…I hadn’t left it all to sheer luck. Oh, no, no, no. I thought I had it all under control and was set for success. After all, I had a great cover, early reviews, and a release plan (with cover reveal, blog tours, Netgalley…). This meant I would release it and everyone would want to download it and I’d be set for success.

    Spoiler alert: In June 2014, when I published ONE, TWO, THREE, I sold 45 copies…So. Not an overnight success. 😊 Granted, that book has now sold many more copies. It has also been picked up by a French publisher, and I even received a message from a French teenager who mentioned that this book, this little book of mine, has gotten her to love reading!

    Sometimes, it feels that self-publishing is a sprint. And maybe sometimes it is. But not always…And marketing doesn’t stop with release month…
  1. Advertising to the wrong audience. When I first started self-publishing back in 2014, I thought it was essential to have a Facebook page with lots and lots and lots of followers – which may have been true if I had first analyzed the audience that would be most likely to buy my book. I went for a worldwide audience at a time where my books were (a) only in English, (b) on platforms that weren’t necessarily accessible to readers all around the world. And at that time, I was not really targeting my ads…

    So yes, I had many followers, but not an enormous audience of readers interested in my books. This is a mistake I’ve made again but more structured, as I’m still trying to see what ads work the best for different audiences. I’ve succeeded in France (and I’ll get into it in my weekly newsletter in the coming weeks), but my conversion rate (how many people actually buy a book after clicking on a link) is still too low for the US market. But nothing…nothing compared to 7 years ago.

  2. Not focusing on my newsletter. I remember reading years ago…and I mean yeaaaaaaars ago how important it was to have a newsletter because social media algorithms change (and man, do they change). That way, you may build more of a connection with the reader. Some newsletters I subscribe to are only letting me know when the author has a new sale. Others are expanding on the books they’re reading, how they’re writing, maybe movies or podcasts they’re enjoying, or other things going on in their lives.

    Have I ever bought or reviewed a book based on a newsletter? Yes. Yes, I have. I have a Facebook readers’ group (if you’re on there, thank you 😊), but I haven’t been spending a lot of time on Facebook. And I don’t have Facebook on my phone. And every single time I post something on my Facebook group, the reach (people who may see it in their feed) is about 35 to 50 out of more than 400 Facebook group members). More people open my emails. And it feels like people unsubscribe more when they’re no longer interested any long…. Still, I’m in Facebook groups I haven’t checked in probably years…so…yep, I’ve been refocusing on building my readers’ newsletter.

    I do wonder about that new platform Facebook announced on March 16th. They’re getting into the newsletter subscription area and do mention also the use of groups in there. So, will that change the algorithm? Apparently, it might give writers more tools and could help in audience growth…but again, one might be dependent on changes…

    Not like we’re also not dependent on changes with emails. When Google introduced the tabs in Gmail, some newsletters ended up in the Promotions tab, which is not necessarily read as often…Anyhow…😊

    Not focusing on my newsletter was one of my self-publishing mistakes, mainly since I don’t publish a book every two months or so. Newsletters help me stay in touch with my readers in-between (which I love doing) and grow my audience.

And those are my top 3 self-publishing mistakes.

Again, if you’d like to see my top 5, you can just click here or on this cover, add your email and you’ll get access to the full pdf…

I’ll be sharing more in the coming weeks as well as what has worked for and my current publishing updates…including some stats about my bestselling format and platforms.

Thank you for reading!

Did you enjoy this post? Do you want to help support me and my writing? You can forward this email to someone who might be interested, buy my books and as always, don’t hesitate to leave me a comment.

If you have any questions about my adventures in self-publishing or anything I shared with you today, don’t hesitate to reach out and I’ll make sure to reply in my email next week.

You can click here to start receiving those weekly emails or add your email below.

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

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bilingual books

Are you learning Spanish? ¿Estás aprendiendo inglés? The one with the Spanish / English edition of A SUMMER LIKE NO OTHER.

Elodie
A SUMMER LIKE NO OTHER/ UN VERANO COMO NINGUNO (Bilingual book: Spanish – English / Libro bilingüe: Inglés – Español). Available now!

A Summer Like No Other / Un Verano Como Ninguno

(Bilingual book: Spanish – English / Libro bilingüe: Inglés – Español).

Are you learning Spanish? ¿Estás aprendiendo inglés?

This book can help you: you will find the story told in Spanish on one side and in English on the other …Este libro puede ayudarte con eso: Encontrarás el cuento narrado en español en una página y en la otra en inglés …

Amazon (Kindle / Paperback) – iBook – Google Play – Kobo – B&N – Scribd

Ella es la hermana menor de su mejor amigo. Él es el donjuán más seductor de todos.  No deberían estar juntos.
Sin embargo, este verano es demasiado tentador.

She’s his best friend’s little sister. He’s the biggest player of them all.  They shouldn’t be together.
But this summer’s just too tempting.

Grab your copy now and keep reading 🙂 Amazon (Kindle/ Paperback) – iBook – Google Play – Kobo – B&N – Scribd

And have you already picked up “One Dream Only / Todo por un sueño”?

One Dream Only / Todo por un sueño

(Bilingual book: Spanish – English / Libro bilingüe: Inglés – Español).

Are you learning Spanish? ¿Estás aprendiendo inglés?

This book can help you: you will find the story told in Spanish on one side and in English on the other …Este libro puede ayudarte con eso: Encontrarás el cuento narrado en español en una página y en la otra en inglés …

Amazon (Kindle / Paperback) – iBook – Google Play – Kobo – B&N – Scribd – (also available on Overdrive)

She thought she was on her way to the top…
Sixteen-year-old Natalya Pushkaya has one dream and one dream only: becoming the best ballerina ever. Dancing’s always been who she is and she’s working her hardest to land the main role of the School of Performing Arts’ end-of-the-year showcase.
But…will she make it?
Within a week, Natalya’s life will be changed forever.
Prequel novelette of One, Two, Three…
***
Ya se había visto en el camino hacia la fama…
Natalya Pushkaya, de dieciséis años, tiene solamente un sueño: ser la mejor bailarina de todos los tiempos.
Su vida siempre ha sido el baile y está trabajando incansablemente para conseguir el rol principal en el espectáculo de fin de año de la Escuela de Artes Escénicas.
Pero… ¿Lo conseguirá?
En una semana, la vida de Natalya cambiará para siempre. 
Precuela de la novela “A La Cuenta De Tres”…

Keep reading…:-)

Amazon (Kindle / Paperback) – iBook – Google Play – Kobo – B&N – Scribd (also available on Overdrive)

Follow me on Instagram – Bookbub – Facebook – Twitter…

I have two newsletters!

(1) My weekly self-publishing emails: A Self-published author’s diary…

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
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(2) A newsletter for my readers: full of bonus scenes, updates on my books, shows I’m watching, books I’m reading, exclusive giveaways and more…

Click on this link and just add your email and you’ll receive access to a page full of exclusive content! Plus my emails include pictures of my cat and my dog…and they’re pretty adorable…:-)

A self-published author's diary, Self publishing, Self-pub corner

A Self-Published Author’s Diary: What is that “back matter” you speak of?

Elodie

Updating the back matter of my book…what do I even mean when I say that? Let’s talk a closer look, shall we?

Important: If you’re a newsletter subscriber, you’ve already gotten the full version in your email. Make sure you check your promotion tabs in gmail as this is where I received mine. 🙂 This blog post is a truncated version of what my newsletter subscribers have received, meaning I share more information with my “A self-published author’s diary weekly email” subscribers. You can subscribe here…When you subscribe you will receive access to past issues as well. 🙂

A. Update the “Little message to my readers”

In almost all my books, I have “A little message to my readers” at the end (I’m sharing that letter with my newsletter subscribers – don’t hesitate to subscribe here and I’ll make sure you receive it :-)) This email is not only thanking readers for their time (which I do truly appreciate)…I mean did you know there are more than 48 million books on Amazon. And while it seems very hard to get yearly data on how many books are being published each year, an article on PublisherWeekly based on Bowker’s data indicated that the number of self-published titles jumped 40% in 2018...So, yep, I am super grateful readers did pick mine up in an ocean of almost endless possibilities…

My “Little message to readers” aims to encourage readers to:

  • leave a review. Why oh why do I ask for reviews? Because reviews really help other readers discover new authors. Annnnnnd….it also helps get more visibility. Reviews don’t have to be raving for this to be true. One of my first review one of my best-selling book basically says, “this book sucks.” But the overall rating for that book is a 4.3 out of 5, so that means that even though someone clearly didn’t like it very much, it doesn’t deter other readers to pick it up. Sometimes, those bad reviews actually help other readers pick a book up. One of my low rating review for ALWAYS SECOND BEST mentioned it wasn’t the equivalent of an Oscar-nominated book but rather a Danielle Steel novel. And let’s face it, this was actually a pretty big compliment to me, because I’d love to have Danielle’s Steel career and her books are beloved by millions…Another one noted that my Gavert City series reminded them of Lifetime movies…which, again…yes, please! Those reviews actually helped me gain more readers and even narrow my marketing.
  • susbscribe to my newsletter: Subscribing to my author’s newsletter is very very important to me. Why? Years ago, I remember hearing how important it was to have your readers’ emails because you can contact directly with them. And I’ve seen in the past few months how true this is. Algorithms change and people may like your page that are also no longer interested in your books…So the audience might be slightly skewed…In a newsletter, if someone doesn’t open your emails for months or years, then you can remove them from your audience but even more importantly, they receive the news directly into your inbox. You don’t rely on boosting a post or crossing your fingers you’ve understood how to use social media, especially when changes are implemented about who sees what and what posts are given priority.
  • Follow me on social media. You might think, wait, you just mentioned how important it is for you to grow you subscribers’ list. True. But for people who might not feel like they want to receive an email from me, then they can check out my social media. It is true that social media definitely isn’t one of my forte (and I’ll go into details about that at another time) but if someone likes my page, I can at least have one more opportunity to interact with them and build a link with them and maybe, they’ll love another one of my books.
  • Create a connection. By adding a little message to my readers, I may create a first connection with a reader. And maybe they will follow my BookBub page or maybe they’re going to be more enclined to recommend one of my books. I do believe they’ll pick another one up if they loved the one they read but maybe they might remember that little message and talk to someone about the story they’ve just read…

B. Update the “Other books by” and maybe the sample at the end.

C. Make sure all the social media info + newsletter info is correct, as well as the short bio info had been updated, if needed: I mean for a while there, I had the wrong link to my Facebook Author Page. I had updated the handle for my Facebook Author Page to match my other social media but hadn’t updated that info into my books…DOH! By the way, if you’d like to like my Facebook Author Page it is: www.facebook.com/enowodazkij

So what am I doing.did I do this week? (I’m starting to write this on Monday and will update it throughout the week…)

  1. Upload the bilingual version of A SUMMER LIKE NO OTHER (English/Spanish) onto Google Play and contact Kindle Direct Publishing about the metadata of that kindle book. I have chosen to list the language as “English” (I cannot list two languages for those books right now), but they got back to me saying the metadata indicated the language was Spanish. I just double checked using Calibre and it still says “English”…so trying to figure out what is happening and if I could indeed list this book as both English and Spanish. Once that it is resolved, announce the book on my blog and on social media. –> I did the first part. Still need to announce the book…
  2. Do some promo for the audiobook of SEE ME, SEE ME NOT. Share the full bloopers to my readers’ newsletter (if you’d like to subscribe to that one, you can do so here…) –> Did that and also shared one deleted scene of Megan singing.
  3. Finish formatting the ALWAYS SECOND BEST bilingual books (German/English) and review it. I have made some changes to the ASB manuscript and I have to make sure it is updated in the German version as well.–> I have formatted the first part of the bilingual book and am currently interviewing some proofreaders to ensure everything is correct before uploading it on all platforms.
  4. Enroll my French Gavert City series into Kindle Unlimited. –> Well, I did update the back matter for some of my books and enrolled LA PEUR EN PLEIN COEUR in KU, buuuuuuttt I need to wait for
  5. Finish this round of revision fo UNNAMED PROJECT (Actually it has a name. A name I kind of love) –> Still working on this. I really need to focus on this next week. It will be my main focus so that I can finally send it off to my wonderful wonderful critique partners. I started writing this book
  6. Announce ONE, TWO, THREE in Italian and boost one of my Facebook posts. I did! Yay. I’ve announced it on my blog and I’ve also announced it on my Facebook and boosted one my posts. I’ve shared a video on Instagram which you can also see below.

My newsletter subscribers will get more information about some of the results of that particular post boosting and what I’m learning about the particular audience I’m boosting it to.

This creative was done with BookBrush…

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Photography

The One With The Bird Pictures Or Refilling the Creative Well…

Elodie

Taking pictures is like telling a story: either the photographer, the subject or both.

And while I can’t count taking pictures as writing, it definitely helps fill the creative well. 🙂

And I’ve been taking quite lot of bird pictures in the past few months: from my window, my backyard and on Sunday from a park close to us…The pictures below are just a selection of the dozens and dozens of pictures I must have taken. 🙂

What do you do to refill your creative well?

As always if you’re enjoying this post, don’t hesitate to check out my books, audiobooks, subscribe to one of my newsletters (receive regular updates on my books, audiobooks and more / receive weekly emails about my self-publishing adventures) or forward it to a friend. 🙂

Thank you!

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Italian books, Self publishing

🎉📚 ESCONO OGGI: UNO, DUE, TRE 🎉📚

Elodie

Quando il sogno della diciassettenne Natalya di diventare una ballerina muoiono in un incidente stradale insieme a suo padre, lei dovrà fare una scelta: darsi per vinta, come sua madre, o aprirsi all’amore.

Amazon (Kindle): https://amzn.to/2OfT5pB
Amazon (copertina flessibile): https://amzn.to/3t6NuR5
Amazon (copertina rigida): https://amzn.to/3ruu3Bq

“In qualità di Affiliato Amazon io ricevo un guadagno dagli acquisti idonei”

Kindle Unlimited

1.

Chopin è la colonna sonora della mia vita.

Papà amava suonare i suoi valzer più struggenti, mamma usava i suoi notturni come ninna nanna per me quando ero piccola, e le gambe mi prudevano per la voglia di fare un arabesque ogni volta che sentivo la Polonaise op.40. Chopin era la mia via di fuga, un modo di sognare il futuro e tutto quello che desideravo: non avere più paura di innamorarmi e ballare il ruolo di Cenerentola al Bolshoi di Mosca.

Ma questo era prima.

La lugubre melodia del Preludio op.28 di Chopin mi avvolge. È un pezzo che viene chiamato anche “soffocamento”. Molto appropriato. Mamma lo ascolta continuamente. È seduta curva al tavolo della sala, lontano da me. Funziona una sola lampadina, e il buio la avvolge quasi del tutto mentre si versa un bicchiere di vodka dopo l’altro.

“Mamma, devi andare a dormire,” le dico per la quinta volta. Sta scolandosi quella bottiglia come se non ci fosse un domani, e forse è proprio quello che spera. La testa le ciondola a destra e a sinistra, è andata. Oggi non sono potuta andare all’appuntamento col dottore perché lei era troppo ubriaca per guidare, e ho dovuto mentire di nuovo. Il dottor Gibson mi ha creduta e mi ha spostato l’appuntamento tra due settimane. Mi ha detto che se seguo i suoi consigli (portare il tutore, fare riabilitazione ed evitare di saltare) potrò fare volontariato al centro sociale e insegnare danza ai bambini. Ha perfino parlato di me alla persona che coordina i volontari. Stavano cercando uno studente del college, ma al colloquio li ho convinti a darmi una possibilità anche se ho ancora solo diciassette anni. Se sabato con i bambini andrà bene, potrò dare una mano tutti i weekend per qualche ora al giorno.

Mamma si alza in piedi, oscillando con la bottiglia in mano.

“Levati di torno,” farfuglia, e mi spinge via. Prima, non avrei inciampato. Dopotutto l’equilibrio per una ballerina è la cosa più importante, ma il tutore mi rende i movimenti un po’ difficoltosi. Cado addosso agli scaffali e mi aggrappo ai romanzi degli autori preferiti della nonna, Tolstoj e Shakespeare: adorava Anna Karenina e Romeo e Giulietta. La divertiva parlare di un pamphlet in cui Tolstoj critica Shakespeare, e poteva discutere di letteratura per ore. Se la mia Babushka fosse qui, forse lei riuscirebbe a farsi comprendere da mamma, ma allo stesso tempo sono felice che non sia costretta a vedere la sua famiglia che, dopo l’incidente, è andata in pezzi.

“È stata colpa mia!” Le parole di mamma mi trafiggono il cuore, e so che non posso convincerla del contrario. “È stata colpa mia,” sussurra. “L’ho ammazzato!” La sua voce diventa più forte, in un crescendo. “Non ti voglio vedere! Vai via!”

Sento una stretta allo stomaco. Non importa quante volte mi cacci via, la mia reazione è sempre la stessa: voglio confortarla, ricordarle che non è lei la responsabile.

Sono io.

Kindle Unlimited

Amazon (Kindle): https://amzn.to/2OfT5pB
Amazon (copertina flessibile): https://amzn.to/3t6NuR5
Amazon (copertina rigida): https://amzn.to/3ruu3Bq

Altri libri in italiano

IL MIO UNICO SOGNO (Natalya #0.5)
Credeva di essere sulla strada per il successo… La sedicenne Natalya Pushkaya ha un solo e unico sogno: diventare la più grande ballerina di sempre.La danza è sempre stata parte di lei, e ce la metterà tutta per ottenere il ruolo principale nello spettacolo di fine anno alla scuola di Discipline dello Spettacolo.Ma… ci riuscirà? Nel giro di una settimana, la vita di Natalya cambierà per sempre.
Amazon (Kindle): https://amzn.to/38qL881
Amazon (Copertina flessibile): https://amzn.to/3eoFkzp

UN’ESTATE SENZA PRECEDENTI (Nick & Em #1)

Lei è la sorella più piccola del suo migliore amico. Lui è il miglior rubacuori in circolazione. Non dovrebbero stare insieme. Però quest’estate la tentazione sarà grande.

Amazon (Kindle): https://amzn.to/38nugip
Amazon (Copertina flessibile): https://amzn.to/3quZp9R

UNA SECONDA POSSIBILITÀ (Nick & Em #2)

A volte non ti aspetti di arrivare al primo posto. A volte l’amore ti concede una seconda possibilità. UNA SECONDA POSSIBILITÀ è un romanzo di speranza, cuori spezzati e sogni infranti. È un romanzo che parla di innamorarsi e scoprire che essere primi non è sempre la cosa più importante.
Amazon (Kindle): https://amzn.to/3rA9vYu
Amazon (Copertina flessibile): https://amzn.to/3t34AzA

AMORE IN SI MINORE
Sulla carta, Jen sta vivendo il suo sogno: danzare in una prestigiosa compagnia di balletto di Parigi. Nessuna ragazza rimane indifferente davanti a Lucas Wills. Rockstar dall’animo ribelle, è circondato dalle groupie. Quando Jen, l’avventura finita troppo presto, si ripresenta a un provino per diventare la ballerina nel nuovo video musicale della band di Lucas, l’attrazione fra loro non fa che crescere. Ma i segreti sepolti nel passato di entrambi potrebbero mandare in frantumi le carriere che hanno tanto faticato per costruirsi… e i loro cuori. Dovranno decidere se valga la pena lottare per il loro amore. Amazon (Kindle): https://amzn.to/2Oz7s8q

HAI PAURA DI ME?

Una rete di segreti, una piccola città nel Texas, un serial killer a piede libero, una storia d’amore… Questo romanzo ti terrà sveglio la notte!

Amazon (Kindle): https://amzn.to/30t1NU8
Amazon (Copertina flessibile): https://amzn.to/3vaCnZd

Libro bilingue

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https://amzn.to/3rIyM2ohttps://amzn.to/3bsumXQhttps://amzn.to/3bzuvJnhttps://amzn.to/3ck0n3w

Grazie!!!

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A self-published author's diary, Self publishing, Self-pub corner

A Self-Published Author’s Diary: Let’s start, shall we?

Elodie

Good morning…I don’t know why I start with “Good morning”. Especially because I’m writing this post (and email) during a stretch of several days. Like, right now, when I’m adding this sentence, it’s evening here.

Plus, you may be reading this in a lot of different places and time zones…But anyways, here is it is “Good morning”: the sun is shining through the window, Plato the Dog is snoring on the couch and I have a lot of things on my to-do list. Including starting this weekly email…which will also be available in French.

If you’re interested: you can sign up here. for the English version and here for the French version…I’ll be sharing parts of this newsletter on my blog but I might not share it on my blog every week, while when you sign up for my weekly email, you’ll receive that weekly email directly to your inbox…

Why start a weekly email about self-publishing?

After all, I am not one of the big names nor am I making thousands dollars a month and the main reason I am able to still focus on my business is thanks to my husband and his job. I mean, granted, there’s also a pandemic and due to my stem cell transplant, I’m still considered to be in the segment of the population that needs to be extra careful. But I am able to take all necessary precautions thanks to my husband and his job. Others might not.

Anyhow.

I’ve been sharing some behind-the-scenes in my Instagram stories but (a) the reach very much depends on the algorithm and I don’t post regularly enough on social media I think to make the algorithm work in my favor, (b) After not being on social media very consistently over the past several years, it sometimes feel I need to start from scratch, (c) this might be helpful and/or entertaining and/or interesting to my readers, (d) I am currently changing the way I am working on my publishing career, (e) And yes, since I will also be talking about my books, maybe I might gain a few more readers. :-), (f) sometimes it feels like I’m talking in a void…

And did I mention there is a pandemic and that I haven’t interacted face-to-face for more than 15 minutes with more than 4 people (counting my husband) in almost a year?

And at least, when I write a blog post or a newsletter, it feels like my words may reach someone,

I feel the same way about writing my books, but there’s no instant gratification when it comes to writing novels or even short stories. I don’t publish them right away. There’s an entire process behind them.

I do receive emails from readers and I need to print out them and make an album out of them, because reading them always makes me smile.

And I know that for some authors, where I am at my career is a place they long to be. And for some other authors, they wish for something different. It’s all about expectations and I guess where you are in your writing journey.

Some self-published authors who started publishing around the same time I did have quit (for many different reasons – have I mentioned how lucky I am for my husband and his support?). Other self-published authors have risen to the top of the charts, mostly due to their hard work and business savy and marketing strategies and yes, a bit of luck. But honestly, that bit of luck wouldn’t be anything without the hard work they’ve put behind the scenes and the amount of novels they have written that are so good readers can’t get enough. And some are like me, continuing to write and publish, trying out different avenues and strategies, readjusting their goals…

See? I am musing right now. Thinking out loud. Typing…out loud? I thought about starting a patreon or a podcast, but writing seems to be my favorite mean of expressing myself and sharing information. Don’t get me wrong, I can talk, talk, talk about a lot of different subjects. And since I used to work as a press officer and an adjunct, I am used to and enjoy presenting on a variety of topics. And I am good at it. But…musings in writing? That seems more like something I can do on a regular basis. And I might read this out loud and actually add it as an audio file at some point.

What do you think? Would you like this as an audio file too? Let me know 🙂

What I am currently working on:

  1. Switching some of my French-speaking, German-speaking and maybe Portuguese-speaking books to Kindle Unlimited. Why? I haven’t published a new original book in more than a year and so the sales have been dwindling on all platforms and I am getting the rights back on some of my German and Portuguese translations. Plus, by looking at the overall sales and revenues in the last three years for my books in French, I did have a jump in revenue a few months after the hype of release week when I put those books in KU. By the way did you know that Kindle Unlimited has a different name in France and there’s a whole legal story behind it about the right of publishers to set e-book prices and there were quite a few articles about it back in 2015. I found this fascinating and will definitely read more about it. The TRUST ME, TRUST ME NOT French version has also never been in the French equivalent of Kindle Unlimited soooooo…waiting for the other platforms to delist LA PEUR DANS LE SANG, LA PEUR DANS LES YEUX and LA PEUR EN PLEIN COEUR and off they go into the French equivalent of KU.
  2. Working on two new bilingual books…I had a lot of foreign-languages editions of my books up on Babelcube. And I got a lot of the rights back on those books. And my revenue currently comes mostly from my bilingual books. So this means, I need to format, format, format and publish, publish, publish. I’m currently working on the English/Spanish version of A SUMMER LIKE NO OTHER and the German/English version of ALWAYS SECOND BEST.
  3. Started Mark Dawson’s class on Ads for Authors: I have been wanting to take this class for years. Literally, years. It is definitely an investment. But it has already helped me, when it comes to my newsletter and making efforts to expand my newsletter subscription in other countries, such as France, where my books have been selling the best – especially as I’m currently drafting several stories. Some of which I am planning to release this year.
  4. Trying to find ways to reach more audiobook listeners. Megan Carter narrated FEAR ME, FEAR ME NOT and SEE ME, SEE ME NOT and those audiobooks are good. Really, they are really good. She’s an amazing narrator and I am so so looking forward to have more listeners discover those books. You can just listen to the samples (FEAR ME, FEAR ME NOT sample and SEE ME, SEE ME NOT sample). From a self-publishing/business perspective, I also want to make that Megan gets her fair share of downloads. We did a Royalty-Share Plus contract on ACX, meaning that I paid her a lower rate PFH (per finished hour) but we share the royalties on the books. So for me: I want to (a) recoup my investment, (b) make a profit, (c) make sure Megan also makes on this book at least what she would have earned if I had paid her her regular PFH rate.
  5. Going wide with the audiobook of A SUMMER LIKE NO OTHER: what does going wide mean for an audiobook? That means that instead of listing my audiobook via ACX (which is the Amazon platform and only makes it available on Amazon, iTunes and Audible), I am using Findaway Voices and it will be available in libraries, Google Play and so many more places.
  6. Back to training my dragon…I bought a copy of the Dragon Naturally Speaking back in 2016 and didn’t use it a whole lot. As I am currently writing short stories (ghosts! witches! vampires!) with Susan Dennard’s story-a-month challenge and want to write a prequel novella to the rom-com I’m finishing revising, I need to draft faster. Drafting faster means getting the story out faster because I have noticed that I do much better in revising if I figure out the novel as I draft it. Yes, I am now more of a plotter than I used to be but there are still areas that I discover only once I have the story drafted.

So, this is what you might expect in my weekly email. More info about what I’m reading about the self-publishing market, results in some of my marketing methods and trying out different platforms…Some random thoughts about going wide / Kindle Unlimited, writing methods.

I’ll be sharing more about training my dragon (the transcription …), the ups and downs of self-publishing, more of a glimpse behind-the-scenes…and I’ll be crossing my fingers that, that way, I can connect more with readers and writers and people around the world, wondering about self-publishing or my experience with self-publishing…after all some people still find this blog by looking up ideas on self-publishing from years ago. A lot of things have changed in the self-publishing landscape. A lot of them haven’t. I’ll share with you how I think I became somewhat of a success in France with my self-publishing books (it has to do with a lot of luck and timing).

Okay, that’s it for now.

Did you enjoy this post? Do you want to help support me and my writing? You can forward this blog post to someone who might be interested, sign up for my newsletter ( sign up here. for the English version and here for the French version), buy my books…

Or simply leave me a comment…

Don’t hesitate to ask a question in the comment and sign up for my weekly newsletter. I’ll answer questions weekly as well. 🙂

Talk to you next week. 🙂

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