Happy Release Day!!

  

 HAPPY RELEASE DAY!!

 

YOU CAN NOW BUY CRAMPING CHRONICLES: THE FIRST TWINGE IN EBOOK AND PAPERBACK 

Amazon | Book Depository | Indie Bound  

Young Adult Urban Fantasy with chronic illness rep, and the start of a brand new series.

Meet Jessie. She’s fifteen, newly disabled and adapting to all that comes with that. She’s got her best friend Gray, and a new school to fit in to.

Only Jessie is more than she seems. She’s an empath. The powers are new. The film clips are included and up until now, she’s only had two triggers. Her mum and Gray.

On the second day of school, she spots Meera, a beautiful girl who Jessie could see herself falling for. The only problem is Meera causes Jessie pain when she’s in the same vicinity.

Can Jessie solve the mystery behind Meera’s worries? Or will she get caught up in the danger and only be able to save herself? 

 

 

#TeaserTuesday

Jessie has no idea why the pretty girl hates her...

COVER REVEAL COMING THURSDAY!

[ID: A graphic with a red background and the header of Cramping Chronicles: The First Twinge and underneath the words: Coming October 2020. The excerpt reads:

As our eyes met again, I couldn’t help but smile back, a warmth filling me just for a heart beat, lifting my hand to wave, before she cut me down with a glare.
She looked royally pissed off, and I didn’t have the first clue why.

At the bottom is Joey Paul, her website of www.joeypaulonline.com and the logo of a green and purple bug in the far right corner.

END ID]

Breakling Down My Day: Release Day

BREAKING DOWN MY DAY: RELEASE DAY

I've talked before about my usual writing day (found here) and the days running up to release (found here) but I thought I would do the actual release day itself, and how my day usually goes. I've started this series simply because I feel like a lot of people don't realise just how much work goes on behind the scenes, and even though I won't be listing exact times nor exact things, I will give you some idea of how things go, for me, come release day.

06:00-09:00
I usually wake up around 6am, and will then do whatever work I need to that isn't linked to the release in this time, so either a chapter or some other piece of admin stuff that I've got in the planner to do. If I finish early, I'll watch some youtube videos and start checking things like ads and ARCs are all done. This is my pre-work stuff, even though I'm kinda working already at this point.

09:30-10:30
This hour is taken up by either scheduling or posting release day stuff on social media. I like to try and space it out so that it's seen by people at different times, and of course even though I'm in the UK, there's other parts of the world who I want to see my posts. This can take longer than an hour, I usually have the posts already done by that point, as in I've made the graphics and all of that so it's just the scheduling and cross-posting that take this time up.

11:00-12:30
I will chat with a friend, go over edits depending on whether I am in the process of preparing another book for release (in May release yes, in October release, no). I'll also try and take a bit of downtime here, and just monitor social media and emails and such with a bit of a hands off approach. Depending on how this time goes, I might even try and sneak a nap (yes releases take a lot of time, but I also have a chronic illness or two that doesn't like letting me actually sleep at night!) If I can nap, I'll only go for an hour or so, but if not, I'll push through.

13:00-15:00
This is the time I really struggle with. I'm checking posts, making more, and also checking ads in the US have gone through fine. I'm also usually already very very tired and it's hard to focus, but release day is all about pushing yourself a little further. I might try and set up in bed and do the work from there, but it really depends on how my body is acting. It can be a complete arse at times! If I am able to work, I'll be making sure reviews are posted, contacting other reviewers and setting up blog posts all over to make sure that the word is out. I'll also be following and reposting things from the hashtag for that book, either to my own feed, or just engaging with the posts themselves to make sure people know that I've seen it and appreciate it.

16:00 onwards
As early as this is for most people, by that point, I need my bed and nothing is going to keep me up. I'll unwind with a book, chat with a friend and crash out. Because I don't get a whole lot of time to do everything, I'll usually be carrying over stuff I didn't manage to the next day so that release week goes off without a hitch. It's a marathon not a sprint and sometimes you gotta let yourself rest.

So that's about it really for my release day. As I've said, a lot of this is estimates and will also take into account how I'm feeling that day. Sometimes I'm fine come release day, riding the adrenaline high and all okay, other times I'm in the midst of a flare and I can barely do anything. It's the joys of chronic illness!

Any questions or tips? Leave them in the comments!

Follow Joey here on her blog, or on Facebook or Tumblr to be kept up to date with the latest news regarding Joey and her books

Happy Release Day Lighs On!

The day is finally here and you can now buy Lights Out in paperback and ebook!

Paperback: Amazon UK | Amazon US | Book Depository | Indie Bound

Universal Link ebook: http://www.books2read.com/LON

1 day to #LightsOn

1 DAY TILL #LIGHTSON

 

PRE-ORDER HERE: http://www.books2read.com/LON

PRE-ORDER SWAG: https://forms.gle/58vdjcd6JYrveT6F7

I'll be sharing a fact about the book, a day until release day!

 

Today's fact: The King is determined to stamp out rebellion

3 days to #LightsOn

3 DAYS TILL #LIGHTSON

 

PRE-ORDER HERE: http://www.books2read.com/LON

PRE-ORDER SWAG: https://forms.gle/58vdjcd6JYrveT6F7

I'll be sharing a fact about the book, a day until release day!

 

Today's fact: The journey to Evendown is filled with peril.

4 days to #LightsOn

4 DAYS TILL #LIGHTSON

 

PRE-ORDER HERE: http://www.books2read.com/LON

PRE-ORDER SWAG: https://forms.gle/58vdjcd6JYrveT6F7

I'll be sharing a fact about the book, a day until release day!

 

Today's fact: The protesters are turning up the heat!

6 days to #LightsOn

6 DAYS TILL #LIGHTSON

 

PRE-ORDER HERE: http://www.books2read.com/LON

PRE-ORDER SWAG: https://forms.gle/58vdjcd6JYrveT6F7

I'll be sharing a fact about the book, a day until release day!

 

Today's fact: Hayley plays a part in this book

7 Days to #LightsOn

7 DAYS TILL #LIGHTSON

 

PRE-ORDER HERE: http://www.books2read.com/LON

PRE-ORDER SWAG: https://forms.gle/58vdjcd6JYrveT6F7

I'll be sharing a fact about the book, a day until release day!

 

Today's fact: Lock & Clara are running for their lives!

Life Of Joey - October 2019 [CC]

Telling you all about what I've been up to in the past month. #Authortube

BUY DYING THOUGHTS - EIGHTH ENDING: http://www.books2read.com/DTEE
BUY LIGHTS OUT: http://www.books2read.com/LOUT
THE BOOK ROBIN HOODS: https://therobinhoods.wixsite.com/thebookrobinhoods
BUY MY BOOKS: http://www.joeypaulonline.com/p/aboutjoeys-books.html
BLOG: http://www.joeypaulonline.com/
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FACEBOOK: http://facebook.com/JoeyPaulOnline
TWITTER: http://twitter.com/MsJoeyBug
INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/authorjoeypaul
GOODREADS: http://bit.ly/1UcS61

Happy Release Day!

You can now buy Dying Thoughts - Eighth Ending in ebook and paperback!

Come along for Tara's final journey!

EBOOK UNIVERSAL LINK: http://www.books2read.com/DTEE

PAPERBACK: Amazon UK | Amazon US | Barnes & Noble

Happy Release Day - Lights Out!

HAPPY RELEASE DAY!!

 Join Lock on her fight for what's right in a world where aging stops at 25 and all live ends at 60! 

Pick up Lights Out today!

CREDIT FOR GIF: http://www.gifgrrl.com

You can now grab a copy of Lights Out in paperback and eformat!

 

 

The Trials Of An Indie Author: Planning A Release

THE TRIALS OF AN INDIE AUTHOR: PLANNING A RELEASE

It's getting to that time of the year again where I am gearing up to release my next book. 2019 is going to be different than any of the others because I'm not just sticking with my usual two, but adding a third in there as well. It's been started, the process of editing and the rest have been going on since about July time of 2018. I won't bore you with the details of release, though I might update my series on the after process and all that goes into it. It's been a while since I talked about it.

But back to today's topic. How do I, and any other indie author, plan for a release? It feels like a never ending cycle between drafting, rewrites, edits, betas and the rest as you go from finishing one book to the next and getting another bunch ready for release. It can be extremely overwhelming, but that said, it's something that needs to be done. You can't just, like I did in the early days of my career, release a book and call it done. You have to get the word out and you have to actually do a lot of work to get that done. Readers don't come out from the woodwork and randomly start reading your book if they don't know it's there.

So how do you plan a release? What goes into it? Who do you talk to? What steps can you take to help get the word out? And how do you find readers in the first place? Don't worry! I'm gonna go through each of those in turn.

#1- What goes into it?
I'm someone who does a lot of planning. So I make sure that I know what's ahead of me. The deadlines, the steps I need to take and all of that. I also make sure that I know what's expected of me. A lot of the time, you're going to be working with other people. You'll have an editor and cover designer at a minimum, but you'll also have beta readers, a street team, ARC readers and cover reveals and all of that. You need to be sure of what you need to be doing and when to do it by. For me that means breaking it down month-by-month. Marketing has never really been my strong point, so I've used tools like Storiad that gives you a very good marketing tool for your release that you can follow.

But again, a lot of this is going to be down to you to do. You'll know what you need to do and when it has to be done by. Like I said above, I start the publishing process about a year before the book will hit the shelves. And so you need to make sure that you have that time, those steps to meet and all of that. Publishing a book is a whole lot more than just hitting the button on whatever site you use. You want to be spreading the word, building the hype when it comes to the cover, teasers, the pre-order period, the blogs who do ARCs and all of that. It's all a big build up the the special day when your book is out there in the world. And then, if you're like me, you're juggling these different stages with more than one book. So know what you're doing and make sure you have a way to at least keep track of what's been done and what needs doing.

#2- Who do you talk to?
This is going to be talked a little bit more in the fourth question, but rather than repeating myself, I'll just say that a lot of the time you're gonna be talking to bloggers and readers of your genre. The target audience are the ones you want to reach. But before that you'll be wanting to reach out to people who promote your kind of book. Whether that's a YA blogger or a romance blogger, or a fantasy/sci-fi/dystopian etc blogger, that's who you're going to be reaching out to.

Why? Because they're the people who will have the audience you want to reach. They're the people whose readers as going to be your readers. You want to be reaching out to them to help with any number of things from the cover reveal to ARCs to release day blitz to blog tours and the like. These are your people and you're gonna want them to know you have a new book coming out and what it's about.

#3 - What steps can you take to help get the word out?
I've mentioned on the blog before about certain things I do to help spread the word when it comes to a release. These are things like cover reveals, reaching out to bloggers who do things like Bookstagram or Twitter reviews. Taking steps to have Advanced Reader Copies (ARCs) so that people can read the book before release and have reviews on Goodreads and Amazon come release day. You can use these moments, these steps, to get the word out to even more people. It's one of the reasons why it's important to have a good cover so that when it's revealed, people more than want to buy your books, and will pre-order it.

These are steps that you can take in the run up to release. That way there's people already aware that you have a new book coming out before it comes close to release day. It's a lot easier to build a buzz slowly, than to do it super fast. Though of course that depends on your platform, for me, who's very much a small fish, it takes time for people to get worked up because I don't have a huge reach.

#4 - How do you find readers in the first place?
Going back to point two, this is where I'll give you my secrets for finding the elusive reader in your target audience. As I mentioned there, there's places like Storiad that not only help you with marketing, but had a massive database that you can use to narrow down the searches for a certain type of blogger. That way you can use their messaging system to make those contacts and go from there. I recommend personalising the messages which may seem like a lot of work, but it's so worth it.

And the second place I recommend is The Book Robin Hoods, which is a massive resource that allows you to connect with readers and authors alike. They have a huge list of bloggers and bookstagrammers that will possibly, help you with your release. It may seem like a lot of work, but you're releasing a book and you want it to go right, so do the work and you'll thank yourself later.

So there we have it, how to plan a release and get the word out about your upcoming book. If you have any tips, feel free to leave them in the comments, but otherwise, good luck with your release!

Follow Joey here on her blog, or on Facebook or Tumblr to be kept up to date with the latest news regarding Joey and her books

Queston From Readers - June 2018 [CC]

And this week I'm answering all those questions you have.

ERIN'S CHANNEL: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO9oK9D2DpNqcdHfQrh9y9w

BUY WALK A MILE: http://www.books2read.com/WAM
BETA INTEREST FORM: http://bit.ly/2nRnMSY
THE BOOK ROBIN HOODS: https://therobinhoods.wixsite.com/thebookrobinhoods
TICKETS FOR #BLISS2018: http://bit.ly/2yGorwr
TICKETS FOR #DARKERSIDEOFFICTION2018: http://bit.ly/2IVeJXK
BUY MY BOOKS ON AMAZON: http://amzn.to/1VhLHog
BLOG: http://www.joeypaulonline.com/
TUMBLR: http://authorjoeypaul.tumblr.com
FACEBOOK: http://facebook.com/JoeyPaulOnline
TWITTER: http://twitter.com/MsJoeyBug
INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/authorjoeypaul
GOODREADS: http://bit.ly/1UcS61E

Happy Release Day Walk A Mile!!

Happy Release Day!!

BUY WALK A MILE IN EBOOK & PAPERBACK

BLURB:

It’s the year 2050 and it’s possible for people to literally walk a mile in someone else's shoes. Enter Hetti, eighteen, and fresh out of training college, joining the police force alongside her best friend Layla. She’s excited about finally getting to do some practical work after spending so long talking about it in college. Except her first cases are throwing up a few confusing signs. Is it possible that someone is using the Walk A Mile software to kill? And if they are, can Hetti find them before they find her?

TEASERS:

My thanks to all the bloggers, readers and everyone else who helped with this release!

Getting The Buzz Going - The After Process

GETTING THE BUZZ GOING

Now with one of my releases behind me, and now having twelve books published along with a new one out in just over a month, I know a little something about getting the buzz going before release and keeping it there afterwards. I am talking as someone who doesn't have a huge fanbase, let's be upfront about that from the start. However, I am actively building my fanbase and reaching new readers. I'm also trying new things to try and engage with my audience and part of that is a bit of trial and error. So while I don't have the following of some indie authors, I'm not right down at the bottom of the pile either.

I've talked a bit about this on my youtube channel, but I thought I would talk some more about it here as they seem to reach different people. So what I'm going to do is give you five tips that I've found work for me to get the word out, and the hype and buzz started for a release. You may find that they don't work for you, or that you need to adapt them to your own situation, and that's completely fine.

#1. - THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS TOO SOON
One thing I picked up very early on (though not early enough) was that you need to start as soon as you have an idea. The moment you start writing your book, get the buzz started. There is no such thing as too soon. I know a lot of people worry that there will be problems if they don't finish the book, or if they decide to go a different way, or if it takes them years to finish it - which just an FYI is pretty normal - and my answer to that is that people are going to want to know your story. You won't wake up one morning famous, but you will draw attention and that will help spur you on to finish, go through betas and edits and all of that jazz. On top of that, it gives you support and a fanbase to build on even if you're not sure if you're going the traditional or indie route.

#2. - DO YOUR RESEARCH
This is a huge point. So many people will go into the publishing world and not know what's needed of them, or what to do and where to advertise, how to find an editor, how to start a social media presence and all of that jazz. Make sure you know ahead of time what you need to do and how to do it. Whether that's going the traditional or the self-publishing route. You need to know about beta readers, about critique partners, you need to know where to look for cover designers and what is expected of your cover for your chosen genre. You need to know how to choose your genre and all of that jazz. All of this will help you make sure you are hitting your target audience and getting the right buzz going for the work you're doing.

#3. - ADVERTS ARE FRIENDS
I don't just mean things like Facebook ads or Twitter ads. I mean combining all of them together to make sure you're hitting the right people. I mean finding out what works best as an advert, what keywords to use and why, what kind of graphics and all of that. This can help you spread the word. Part of this is making connections which you do by starting early. You find yourself author buddies who either write in a similar genre to you or have a similar target audience to you and then you work together co-promoting. You have to decide for yourself who and where and how, but getting the buzz going means spreading the word.

#4. - SOCIAL MEDIA HELPS
I recently did a vlog on social media (found here) and one thing I was very clear on was that social media is not really optional. You don't have to have a big presence, but you do need to have some presence. It's the way of the world and people wanting to reach out to you, whether they be authors or readers, are going to want to have some way to connect. Whether that's having a website and the bare minimum of socials, or whether you have as many as you can handle, you have to find what works for you, but creating a buzz around releases and other promotions means being able to connect with the world. And for that social media is the easiest way.

#5. - ENGAGE WITH YOUR READERS
The biggest tip of them all is that you need to engage with your readers. Whatever route you choose, a lot of the promotional stuff is going to be on you unless you're a big name and generally speaking most people don't start off as big names. You need to be actually talking with people. It's all well and good to only talk about your book and release, but the majority of people want to have something more than just buy links. They want to get to know you, they want to get to see a part of you outside of the fact that you're a writer. So talk to people, engage with them, make friends and with that, spread the word. Not every tweet and message has to be completed with a buy link!

So those are my five tips of getting the buzz going when it comes to a release. As always, these are what works for me and they might be something that works for you, or you can add your own spin on it. Do you have any ways you like to get the buzz going before a release? Lemme know in the comments!

Follow Joey here on her blog, or on Facebook or Tumblr to be kept up to date with the latest news regarding Joey and her books. 

Release Day Run Up - The After Process

RELEASE DAY RUN UP

Oh it is busy, busy in my house! I've trying to get everything sorted and ready for the coming week as I hurry towards the release of Dying Thoughts - Sixth Change (which you can pre-order here for 99p!) I'm also working hard on getting the edits done, the cover reveal planned and all that jazz for Walk A Mile, which is coming soon too! I thought I would take a moment to both breathe and give you some tips for the run up to release day. This isn't my first rodeo and yet it still stresses me out every time. As I've said before, it gets easier, but the anxiety never goes away completely.

So, what can you do to help keep yourself both on target and still remain calm enough to enjoy the release day buzz? As you know I am a big big big believer in to-do lists, in organisation and in having a week at a glance in regards to my work load. And yet still, I find that the release day rush still can't always be accounted for. So here are five tips for keeping your cool during that busy period.

#1. HAVE BREAKS PLANNED
I know I just said that time is limited, but this is a big big thing. You can't keep going at full steam for the eight or so weeks between your cover reveal and your release. You need to have some time off. Even if that time off consists of a book before bed, a bubble bath or a thirty minute chat with a good friend. You need you time, and no matter who you are, that's just not negotiable. Otherwise you're going to be ending up burnt out and drained by the end of it all. While not everyone plans two releases close together, you will be, probably, working on other projects alongside the release. That's going to eat into your time, and that's another reason to have breaks planned. It doesn't have to be days off, but it does have to be some time when you're able to breathe.

#2. MAKE A TO-DO LIST.
I know this doesn't work for everyone, and I get that not all people will plan things the way I do, but these are what works for me. I have my monthly goals, but I also have a breakdown of everything that needs to be done (and by when) so that I can check them off once they're completed. This allows me to plan my time better and make sure that as well as being on schedule with my release, I'm also able to get writing done, bits and pieces of admin work, and still remain in control of my emotions. I do this with sticky notes, and my monthly list on my private blog, but I also have it all down in a notebook because I do love drawing a line through everything once I'm finished with it. It also allows me to see ahead of myself as to whether there are things that aren't going to get done in time. And if so, rearrange things accordingly.

#3. SCHEDULE POSTS
I know that it may seem like a simple thing, but I'll be honest with you, it took me a while to realise just how useful scheduled posts were. It meant that I no longer needed to cross-post or be on each social media at the exact same time. While I do use some cross-post websites (like ifttt.com) being able to write a post, schedule it and just let it go live on its own, made me life so much easier! I've played around with the best ones that work for me and have found things like Tweetdeck which allow you to schedule as much and as often as you like at no charge, and other such sites that give you the chance to post in groups, have been SO helpful. When you're releasing a book, you have so much admin work to do that sometimes it's better to schedule and deal with the interaction as it happens.

#4. MAKE USE OF CONNECTIONS
I know we're talked about this before, but author friends are great during the run up to release. I have people who are happy to be my cheering squad, have people ready to help promote if needed. I have groups that will help me spread the word and all of that stuff. Having those connections is vital to writing life because you never know when you'll need them, and you'll never know when you're needed. During a release it's always better to be able to ask people to help spread the word rather than paying for Facebook ads or the like, which are usually hit and miss as to whether they hit the target or not.

#5. MAKE USE OF SUPPORT OFFLINE
This is a big one. While my author friends are great and while I have made friends with bloggers and all of that in the past few years, disconnecting and still getting that support from my friends is amazing. It's a great way to boost your energy when you feel like you're flagging. It's a great way to talk through any issues with scheduling and it makes life just so much easier. I know I've very lucky to have a supportive family, in regards to writing and I know that a lot of people don't have that, so if you don't have it offline, it's okay to find these people online as well. I know there are some great circles on Tumblr in the #writeblr tag and have found a bunch of people on Instagram there as well with the #amwriting tag. We're all working towards the same goals, just at different times. Make use of your friends and be ready to ask for help, there's no shame in that!

So there you have it, my five tips for getting through the run up to release day. I've now got to go and send out a bunch of emails about ARCs so I'm gonna leave this here and ask that if you have any tips, feel free to share them in the comments!


Follow Joey here on her blog, or on Facebook or Tumblr to be kept up to date with the latest news regarding Joey and her books.