Audiobook Release: It's Not Always Rainbows

 IT'S NOT ALWAYS RAINBOWS AUDIOBOOK!

ONLY ON AUDIBLE & iTUNES

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Questions From Readers - Feburary 2024 [CC]

Answering the questions you guys have asked me! #Authortube

 

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#TeaserTuesday

Tara can't bear the thought of losing her dad...

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[ID: A bright blue background with the title DYING THOUGHTS - SEVENTH DEATH at the top and out now in ebook & paperback just below the title. The except reads:

It was then that the next scary thought entered my mind. Was the vision triggered because it was an accident that had made my father lose consciousness, or was it more sinister? Was my father already dead and just being kept alive by machines?

At the bottom is Joey Paul and just below that the website www.joeypaulonline.com, in the bottom left corner is the Readers' Favorite review seal, and in the bottom right corner is the logo for Bug Books. END ID]

 

The Trials Of An Indie Author: Delving Into Promotion

THE TRIALS OF AN INDIE AUTHOR: DELVING INTO PROMOTION

One thing that a lot of people don't realise is just how much promotion it takes to sell books. I can't claim to be an expert at it because even though I'll have been published 19 years in August and my 22nd book is coming later this year, I am, and have always been, a very small fish in the book world. I do find it hard to get all the ducks in a row and manage to get the word out there, and a lot of the time, it's that word that is going to help people see you, recognise you, and go on to read more and more of your works.

So why do I then come on here and talking about promotion when I've already made clear that I'm not an expert? Simple, I do know some, and a lot of it is things that might have escaped your notice. I don't really do the hard sell. My process is more about putting my book out there for people to see, and then letting them make that decision about whether or not to go any further and buy, read, and all the rest.

I spend a lot of time working on the promotion side of things out of sight of the public eye, as do a lot of authors I know. There's not much that appeals to readers by showing them how you go about making ads, or how you go about approaching promo sites and the like. The readers know this all happens, but they have no interest in having it laid out for them. Now when it comes to other writers and authors, that's when it appeals because they might find themselves in need of that information and know how. So, like with the majority of my blog posts, let's talk to the writers and authors in my audience.

STEP ONE: WHO ARE YOU TRYING TO ENTICE?
I know you've probably heard people talk about your target audience before and it's something that is really important to pin down. Like I know that my target audience is primarily young adults, so teens, but I also know that there are not a small number of adults who read YA, and I'd like to bring them into the fun too. For one part of my audience, the bigger chunk, the legitimate young adults, I'm going to focus on things like Instagram and YouTube, because I know that a lot of young adults will use that as their main social media, if they have any at all.

For the adults who read YA, I'll stick to Facebook and before I left the platform, Twitter, and now BlueSky and Threads. These are places where a lot of YA readers are hanging out and looking for their next read. It's hard to juggle having both an author platform that appeals to readers, while also having a platform that appeals to other authors, especially those in similar age categories and genres. I'm not going to claim that I've cracked it, but I'm getting to a point where I think the majority of the time, I am drawing in the right kind of people from both audiences. You need to do the legwork to find out who your audience is, and how you're going to reach them, or more to the point, where they are.

STEP TWO: HOW DO THEY CONSUME MEDIA?
Now that you know that illusive target audience and have some idea of who they are, how you reach them, or at least where they are, then you have to focus on how they do things online. I'm sticking to online because so much promotion these days is done in the online space. While you can spend more and more on maybe billboards and the like (depending on genre and age category) I don't have those kinds of funds and a lot of what I do is done on a smaller scale and limited budget.

When you know how, as in if they prefer posts, or reels, or shorts, or long form videos, then you can tailor what you're doing to hopefully catch the right eyes. I recently, as in this year, started doing reels, and given my platform I knew they were going to fall into three distinct categories: bookish ones, those focusing on my books and enticing readers, author life ones, those focusing on my process, and bringing in either curious readers or other authors, and wheelchair walk ones, those focusing on the wheelchair walks I do that bring in people interested by that and maybe might be open to learning more about me. You don't have to go to that level, but it's worked, or is working for me, and I'm enjoying myself which is the main thing.

STEP THREE: DECIDING HOW TO REACH THEM
This is partly a carry on from the previous step, in that once you know how they go looking for things, you can decide what your next steps are. Like I said above, reels are a great quick tool, and rather than me making more videos, which I already do on youtube, I looked to places like Canva to make reels that stand out, maybe have a few clips here and there, and also appeal to those three distinct audiences I attract on Instagram. You can apply that to any social media, like if you know that on Threads you hang out more with authors, then your promotion there should be tailored to them. If you know that on Facebook, you're connecting with readers more, same applies. It's about being smart with how you do things, and also going into it informed by those choices.

So yeah, that's how I approach things, and I know it's a mammoth task and it takes forever to sometimes see any traction, but the thing about building an author career is it does take time. It's very very rare for it to happen fast, and you just have to keep plugging away at it and hoping things all come together nicely. Good luck!

Any questions? Lemme know in the comments!

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Review of Savage Wild Hearts by Sean Fletcher

Carve their hearts. Take their power.

Val has only ever known a Seattle surrounded by the forested Wilds. Like everyone, she’s heard whispers about the glittering, ruthless kingdoms and dangerous human-like wildlings deep within. But with a sick guardian and money tight, Val’s more than willing to brave the Wilds’ depths, carving and selling magic-filled heart gems from its numerous beasts.

Until one day she wanders too far and Rune finds her.

He’s a wildling, more savage and beautiful than any beast, and he has a deal for her: Val will use her unique abilities to help him take the unclaimed high throne of the Wilds. In return, Rune will let her carve the powerful heart gems of his enemies, something there’s no shortage of.

As Val is thrust into a vicious conflict between Lords, kings, and awakening gods, nothing is as it seems. But both the Wilds and Rune—cruel, kind, broken Rune—hold secrets, and if Val’s not careful it might be her heart she loses next.

Amazon

My Review: 5 STARS

I’ve read a lot of Fletcher’s books and always find myself falling entranced by the worlds he creates and this one was no different. I loved Val, her fighting spirit and her ability to see both sides drew me into the story. I ended up finishing the book in one sitting, going through the battles, the fights, the twists and turns that the story took you alone. I adored Rune and his black and white way of thinking. The unique path the story came across and that ending left me desperate for more, to know how this series will play out. One to watch and one that I very much recommend!

Join Joey here on the blog on Fridays for interviews, reviews and guest bloggers. If you'd be interested in doing any of those, you can contact Joey here

Life Of Joey - Feburary 2024 [CC]

Telling you all about what I got up to last month! #Authortube

 

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#TeaserTuesday

Hetti's starting to make connections...

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[ID: A dirty green background with the title WALK A MILE at the top and out now in ebook & paperback just above the title. The except reads:

Though from the sounds of things, we had Cat Holiday dead to rights, but still I couldn’t help but wonder if the WAM glasses she’d been holding had anything to do with what had happened. I mean, if there was something wrong with the Walk A Mile software, more than three people would have died, and we’d have heard about it. WAM was used up and down the country – hell, the world – every day by thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people. It all had to be a coincidence, right?

At the bottom is Joey Paul and just below that the website www.joeypaulonline.com, in the bottom left corner is the New Apple awards seal, and in the bottom right corner is the logo for Bug Books. END ID]

 

The Trials Of A Crime Writer: Writing What You Love

THE TRIALS OF A CRIME WRITER: WRITING WHAT YOU LOVE

One thing that drew me to crime fiction was my love for the kind of stories involved. I loved the grisly, and rawness, but I also loved the humanity, the way that good, usually, triumphed. I loved getting to know the characters, and work out puzzles and get a chance to really lose myself in the narrative. I grew up listening to them on audiobook, and I also delved into them myself as a young reader and as a teen. It got to the point where they were all I read, and in fact I spent most of 2023 reading new crime series and also re-reading older ones. I just have a lot of love for crime fiction itself.

So, of course, it made and makes complete sense that when I started writing my own stories, there would always be some kind of crime or mystery element to it. I wanted to have my readers trying to solve clues. I wanted them to wonder if they were right about who did what to whom and when. I wanted them to lose themselves in my stories and come out the other side surprised or happy to have been right about the whole thing.

So my biggest tip when it comes to newbie writers, is to stick with something you love. Whether that be, like me, crime, or whether that be romance, or fantasy, or science fiction and the like. Whatever it is that makes you excited to open the document and type, then that should be what you choose to write in. I've mentioned before that I grew up reading these kinds of stories, even before there was a YA category, there were books like The Famous Five or The Secret Seven, stories my parents had read and loved, and passed on to me. And that bloomed into my own kind of stories, and YA, for me, is where I love to be telling them.

Now I know that it's not always easy to find that one genre to stick to. After all I am a multi-genre author and I have and do dabble in a lot of them. I go where my stories take me, but the reason I say to start with what you love is because it can then lead to opening doors into other genres that you wouldn't have thought about before. I can't tell you how many times I've had a story idea and slowly realised that it's got elements of the mystery but that is not the main genre, it's just part of the story itself.

The first book I ever wrote to completion was a mixture of urban fantasy and contemporary. It was not good. It was not something that I would ever want anyone to read in that state, because it was terrible, as first books generally are, especially in their first or second draft state. I loved the idea, it had been born of a dream, but I didn't really think about, or know really, what that meant for the genre and the plot devices that I threw into it. It had everything from normal teenage worries to a magic system that made absolutely no sense and was only used when convenient. You see what I'm saying? It was bad!

But when I finally gave up the ghost on trying to make it into something that worked, I decided to work on another story idea, one that had everything I knew I already loved. From danger to intrigue, to betrayal, to dreams, to medical issues, it all worked out for me. I ended up drafting it very fast, and then revising and editing and it eventually became my debut novel.

My point is that out of the two, Blackout was the genre I loved and adored. The other book was more just playing at writing a story rather than actually doing it right, thinking and sitting down and working out how things would go. When it comes to just starting out, write what you love, you'll thank yourself later and there is no reason you can't branch out at another time.

Any questions? Lemme know in the comments!

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Review of Love and Other Dangers - A Dystopian Ink Anthology

Love blooms in even the harshest places.

Dystopian Ink proudly presents this year’s collection of short stories, Love and Other Dangers.

Sixteen stories by published authors and emerging writers that are action-packed, romantic adventures set in dystopian futures and post-apocalyptic landscapes where heroines of all shapes and sizes find love at the end of the world.

Amazon

My Review: 5 STARS

I picked this up having read an anthology by the same team and I couldn’t wait to dive in and get lost in all the worlds and the ways love came through. I loved every single story for its own unique reason. From one world to the next, the same central theme played through and it was always gloriously executed. I adored the mixture of tropes, of plot, of worlds and reasoning and can highly recommend this book for people who love a mixture of danger, intrigue, dystopian worlds and a happy ending for everyone. 

Join Joey here on the blog on Fridays for interviews, reviews and guest bloggers. If you'd be interested in doing any of those, you can contact Joey here

Tracking My Time: 2023 [CC]

Giving you all the stats for tracking my time in 2023 and all I got up to! #Authortube

 

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