free book giveaways – Kris Wampler

Coral McCallum has used free giveaways to generate word-of-mouth interest in her books. Learn which marketing methods have, and have not, worked for her.

1. Tell me briefly about your latest book – what is it about and what motivated you to write it?

My current work in progress is the fourth book in the Silver Lake series – Shattered Hearts. The series is set in the small Delaware town of Rehoboth Beach and follows the story of Lori Hyde and aspiring rock star Jake Power and all things associated with the rock band Silver Lake. The series makes ideal summer vacation reading – goes great with a flight or a day by the pool and is perfect for a day at the beach. These books will make you laugh and they’ll make you cry and you might even fall in love just a little bit with Jake Power.

Stronger Within was my debut novel. After a period of self-reflection I took the plunge on May 8, 2013 and literally sat down in the early evening sun on my front doorstep with a notepad and pen and began to write. My old high school English teacher’s words rang in my ears: “Write about places you know and subjects you are passionate about.” Despite living in Scotland, Rehoboth Beach is a place very close to my heart.

2. How have your sales been?

Sales have been slow but steady. Since I published the first book in April 2015, I’ve received a royalty payment every month. Okay, most months it would barely cover the cost of a cup of coffee, but it’s something. What I take great pride in is the reviews the books have received. So far no one has told me that my “book babies” are ugly!

3. You’ve chosen self-publishing. How have you liked it so far? Talk about some of the positives and negatives you’ve encountered.

I’ve used KDP and previously CreateSpace for all four books. I’ve been really pleased with KDP. Initially I made a rookie formatting error and didn’t appreciate that the e-book platform was more forgiving than the CreateSpace one proved to be. Six days of re-formatting my manuscript later and I had Stronger Within in an acceptable CreateSpace format. With the other books I have formatted the initial manuscript using the CreateSpace paperback format template which is e-book compatible. Easy when you know how!

The only other negative I could mention here is the lack of guidance/support for authors when it comes to marketing. Some additional help pages within KDP would be useful.

Jake Prytherch uses the responsibilities of his daily life to motivate his writing ventures and to keep himself on his toes. He hopes to keep his readers on the edges of their seats too, and Jake talks about that, his marketing strategy, and why free giveaways are important.

1. Give me the “elevator pitch” for your book in five to ten sentences.

Heal The Sick, Raise The Dead is a horror mystery about a journey from relative safety tinged with depression into a land of blood and violence. Although there are walking corpses in this book, it is not a “zombie” book. There is very little firepower, there is no army taking out waves and waves of corpses… it is a story about close quarters, grime, and the true terror that a return from the dead would elicit. The protagonist, Guy, is helped (and hindered) on this journey by a strange set of companions, including a huge man with an insatiable hunger for everything (including violence), a small vicious man with an odd ability, and a silent child who watches everything with cold grey eyes. It is a story about unraveling the truth before their sanity unravels instead.

2. Why did you become an indie writer?

I have always wanted to become a writer but have never had the confidence to pursue projects, and even though I actually finished my first novel The Binary Man in 2010 I simply left it to stew on my computer, not wanting any negative feedback. That feeling changed when I recently turned thirty and my wife gave birth to my second daughter. I’ve got a lot of responsibilities now, which feels very empowering! I think I’m doing alright as a father even though it’s a pretty hard job to do well, so I’ve finally decided to take the plunge and try and get a writing career off the ground, as it surely can’t be any harder! I’ve decided to pursue the indie route at the moment as it best suits my current circumstances. I can set my own hours around my job and family (generally very early mornings fueled by coffee), and I have no one to answer to if it all falls flat.

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