Today, I am very happy to welcome Ines Johnson, who is a self-published author who has published 65 books under 2 pen names. A couple of weeks ago, I read on BookBub an article Ines wrote entitled: How I Make Six Figures as a Self-Published Author. By the way if you want to receive the BookBub latest book marketing tips and insights delivered to your inbox each week, you can click on the article and then on the right you can add your email. 🙂 And voilà…
So, in that article, Ines described how she learned from her mistakes and turned them around.
I’m Ines Johnson, author of paranormal romance with lots of kissing. I also write sweet western romances under the pen name Shanae Johnson. There’s kissing in those books too. Lots of authors who come on this blog are a pretty big deal. Me? I’m a pretty big failure. Funny thing is, that was the key to my success!
I failed. A lot. But each stumble taught me something and brought me closer toward the eventual path to success: I now make six figures as a self-published author. In this post, I’ll outline the top lessons I learned from these failures, so you can learn from my mistakes and get a leg up on your leap to six figures.
Source: BookBub article
Talking with Ines Johnson
Today on the podcast (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and more), Ines Johnson not only shares her insights about the work behind her self-publishing success (goals and planning and advertising and brand and choosing to be wide and more), we also chat about her writing process that is influenced by her experience writing screenplays, why she’s not really on social media, how she rewards herself and so much more.
Here are just three excerpts from our almost hour long discussion.
- On having her books available widely:
- Looking at her publishing and writing career, what is one moment that whenever she thinks of, she smiles?
- About social media…
- Listen to the full episode now…
Giveaway time!
- Giveaway 1: Do you want to win a copy of BRIGHT by Ines Johnson?
BRIGHT by Ines Johnson: a new adult romance touched by fantasy, mixed with science fiction, and a dash of the paranormal.
If you’ve ever wished upon a star, if you’ve felt the glow of finding where you belong, if you know the brilliance of first love, then you’ll fall for Bright.
Enter the givaway here: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/35c42cc28/?
Share this giveaway on Twitter…
Would you like to win a copy of BRIGHT by Ines Johnson? BRIGHT is a new adult romance touched by fantasy, mixed with science fiction, and a dash of the paranormal. Check out the giveaway here: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/35c42cc28/? #books #book #reading
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- Giveaway 2: Do you want to win a copy of HAND OVER HIS HEART (The Brides of Purple Heart Ranch Book 2) or a copy of SWEET CAROL by Shanae Johnson?
HAND OVER HIS HEART: A scholar reaching for her dreams. A hero living on borrowed time. Can she make them a permanent arrangement before his time runs out?
SWEET CAROL: Ariana Carol has the voice of a siren. But after an embarrassing incident on stage, she walked away with stage fright so severe that she barely speaks. So when she’s singing late one night to the crashing waves, she’s shocked to find that a handsome man hears her voice.
Enter the giveaway here: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/35c42cc27/?
Win a copy of sweet romance novel HAND OVER HIS HEART by Shanae Johnson or a copy of sweet holiday romance novel SWEET CAROL by Shanae Johnson… All details here: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/35c42cc27/? #books #book #reading
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Struggles and smiles…
New feature, maybe? The things I struggled with this week in regards self-publishing…Hmmm. The time it took me to update In Diesem Einen Sommer (A SUMMER LIKE NO OTHER in German), including updating the keywords. I used PublisherRocket again and discovered a few keywords that I really needed to change. There was again one that had 0 dollars in revenue and a very low number of searches. And yes, granted the searches are just an approximation but still..
Smiling? Quite a few reasons. I wrote a plan to get this revision done and basically, this is really a result of listening to L. Penelope’s podcast who every week talks about her plan for the week and also talking with Ines Johnson in this week’s chat. 🙂 And I made quite a bit of progress in my revision.
Receiving emails from readers, including my first readers from Austria, I think about my bilingual books and an email from a reader who fell in love with Em & Nick’s story in A SUMMER LIKE ANOTHER. Annnnd attenting the Maryland Romance Writers’ online meeting which this week was: “May MRW Chapter Meeting: Happy Holidays! with Stacey Agdern & Janice Lynn.” Happy Holidays! Stacey Agdern, author of “Miracles and Menorahs”, and Hallmark and multi-published author, Janice Lynn discuss the magic of Holiday-themed books and what it takes to make them special, even when your deadline lands in sunblock and sandal season.
And that meeting prompted me to add a few more Christmas-y details in the first few chapters of #TheLeftoverBride which takes place during the holiday season. It already has the holiday vibe but I added some details at the beginning and it made me smile as I wrote them…so yay!
And I did a major revision, I change “that he’s good at” to “that he excels at”, which may seem small but I don’t know, it gave me that happy revision-makes-my-book-stronger feeling so definitely a reason to smile.
Another reason? This talk with Ines Johnson.
Do you have a question for me about self-publishing or writing?
Record a message for me and I’ll answer directly on the podcast and in my “A Self-Published Author’s Diary” email.
Do you want to tweet about this episode?
Listen to Ines Johnson talk about the work behind her self-publishing success, her writing process, planning and so much more on “A Self-Published Author’s Diary” podcast with @enowodazkij https://anchor.fm/elodie-nowodazkij #WritingCommunity
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Thank you!
Thank you so much to everyone who has listened and subscribed to my podcast. Don’t hesitate to leave a review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow on Spotify or Google Podcasts…
And thank you to everyone who’s already added #THELEFTOVERBRIDE on Goodreads and those of you who already pre-ordered it (on Amazon, iTunes, Kobo).
Bonus scenes, anyone?
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I have two newsletters!
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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…:-)
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Elodie Nowodazkij 