Tag: Amazon

Wrap up a Pirate for someone…

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Good morning all! It’s Tuesday and it’s cold here in Georgia. As I snuggle under my throw with my coffee at my side and the fire crackling I have to smile. It’s cozy and warm with Christmas cheer in my den. I love this time of year. The Christmas tree is twinkling beside me as though it’s saying Merry Christmas Stephanie!

As for presents, are you finished with your shopping? Me, well, almost, but I still have a couple of things to pick up. If you need a stocking filler or a gift for a reader, why not check out Safe in the Pirate’s Arms. It’s an adventurous love story with suspense, romance and pirates. Several readers have commented that they felt like they were on board the ship as I described every detail. I want my readers to experience the book, not just read them.

Here’s a little tidbit and then some links to buy:

Lightning streaked across the clouds just ahead of them. Caleb widened his stance and prepared for the battle with the storm. He’d been through worse.

The first drops of rain caused the men to move faster. All of the cargo had to be tied down. Serena helped by handing out coiled rope to the men. She never thought about the rain causing her clothing to cling to her body.

Caleb looked down to check the progress of the men when he noticed the boys clothing was wet. Then he did a double take. That wasn’t a boy at all, but a woman. A chill ran down his spine as he realized they had a major problem. Tom saw Caleb’s expression and followed his gaze. He swore when he saw what Caleb did. Caleb motioned for him to take the wheel.

He quickly made his way to where the woman stood handing out rope. Luckily the men were so busy that they didn’t notice. He spun her around and their eyes collided. “You need to get to your quarters.” When she just stood there he looked down at her soaked clothing. “Now!” He barked.

She looked down and saw the problem. It only took her moments to cover herself and run to her cabin. Caleb was on her heels. The look in his eyes was murderous and she knew it wasn’t going to be good.

As she opened the door and turned to shut it, he stopped it with his hand and followed her in. Then he slammed the door, leaving them alone in the small cabin. He made the cabin seem even smaller.

“What in the world were thinking? A woman on a ship with a bunch of men is dangerous and foolish.” He ran his fingers through his wet hair in exasperation.

“I was desperate.” She said in a small feminine voice.

His head snapped up in recognition. Reaching out he snatched the hat off her head causing her dark hair to tumble down around her shoulders. He grunted with frustration.  “Serena!”

She looked up at him and blushed. He turned around and grabbed the blanket off the bed. “Cover yourself.” He was a good man, but even he had his limits. “Why’d you stow away on my ship?”

Suddenly she burst into tears and sat down on the little cot. “I didn’t have anywhere else to go.” She started to openly sob.

He’d never been really good with women’s emotions. He sat down on the cot beside her and lifted her chin to look up at him. “What happened?”

“After you left last night, my mother died.” She sniffed and tried to get her composure. “Then I overheard my stepfather telling a man that he was going to end your trip and get you back for taking his shipments. He said he’d watch The Lady go to the bottom of the sea.”

He sat there for a moment. It was evident when he’d been at Edwards home that something was wrong. The man seemed crooked. It angered him that the man was part of the pirate’s that he fought against.

“My mother’s last words were that I needed to leave before my stepfather came upstairs. She said I was in danger. So I packed a bag and made my way down to the docks and then onto your ship.” She looked up at him pleadingly. “Please let me stay on the ship. I’ll work for my room and food. I won’t let anyone know I’m not Toby.”

Standing up quickly he looked down at her. He could only imagine why her mother was worried. That man was pure evil and he was glad she’d gotten away, but a woman on a pirate ship, even though his men were all good men, they were men.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Halfway to the weekend!

It’s already halfway to the weekend and I feel like I’ve accomplished nothing. Time flies when you’re having fun I guess. I’m getting excited about my upcoming release of “Her Wish For Christmas” which is scheduled on Amazon for Thursday night at midnight. Since I’m donating 1/2 of the preorder and 1st week of sales royalties to a domestic violence charity I hope you’ve gone over to Amazon and preorder or maybe you plan on getting it Friday. It’s for a great cause.

As for my week, well it’s been busy as usual. I’m working on Ridge which will be set up for release later in the year. This is the first book in the new Five Oaks Ranch series. It’s based on a ranch and the five siblings are funny, complicated and exciting. I hope you’ll check them out as they come into being. Ridge has been an interesting character to write. He’s a hard man with a heart of stone, but he wasn’t always this hard. Two tours of duty in Iraq have changed him. But the new vet might just change that.

I hope all of you are enjoying your hump day! Don’t forget, the weekend is right around the corner.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Her Wish For Christmas… Pre order up and running

Good Wednesday morning to everyone! It’s a beautiful, chilly morning here in Georgia. I just love the crisp air that Fall offers. It’s so invigorating and refreshes my soul. I begin to get more itchy to write which is scary because some days I could write for 24 hours a day. Yikes, that sounds a little obsessive, but if you’re a writer you know exactly what I’m talking about.

I’m currently working on Her Wish for Christmas, the 3rd book in my Lean on Him Christian Romance Series. This book has torn at my heart and brought me to tears several times. I thought book 2 in the series, Faith Through the Tears was bad on my nerves, well this one has totally cleared out my tear ducts. Actually had a fan recommend sending out a box of tissues with each copy sold.

If you’re wondering why it brings me to tears, well it’s a book about a problem that plagues this nation and it’s something that just affects me so deeply. But it’s the reactions of the characters that totally takes me by surprise. If you’re not a writer, the last statement might seem strange, but sometimes as writer’s we’re surprised by how the characters take over.

Also, for this book, it’s on pre order through Amazon until the release date of November 14th at http://www.amazon.com/Her-Wish-Christmas-Lean-Book-ebook/dp/B00OJI0BN0. I’m donating 50% of my royalties from all the pre order sales and first week after release sales to a domestic violence charity. I want to help out with making a difference. This is such a problem and it breaks my heart that so many feel they have nowhere to turn.

The first couple of days the pre order was out it was in the top 100 on Amazon which is exciting. I’m so touched by the response to this book and can’t wait for it to be up and running. Since the book is almost completely through the editing process I’m crossing my fingers that maybe this book can inspire someone to speak out and get help.

Her Wish for Christmas ad

As always great writing and May God Bless You…

Changes make all the difference…

Yep, I’m doing a happy dance this morning. With All My Heart (Revised Edition) Is doing really well on Amazon. 

You may be wondering what I did as far as changes. Well, I did a couple of things to change this book from the original edition.

Here are the changes I made:

1: I updated the cover. The original cover was awesome, but as one author explained to me, if you change the manuscript and republish you have to change the cover.

2: I went in and changed the voice slightly in this edition. I also added a couple of elements that made the story flow better.

3: I changed the categories that the book was put into. Amazingly enough, as the numbers above tell the tale, it worked.

I’m in the process of revisiting a couple of my older published books. As my writing becomes more refined and I learn new techniques it causes me to think of my earlier works. Now when I go back over them I smile. Things have changed with my writing voice and I have to make sure that all my work changes with me.

So if you have older works that maybe need a facelift, then go for it. It’s been an awesome thing for With All My Heart. Of course this book has done well in the past, but the numbers from just the last two days have been, let’s just say, awesome!

I also want to thank my Twitter friends that took over the post from the other day regarding the republishing. They spread it like wildfire over the Twittersphere and I’m humbled by their wonderful comments and promotions. It’s amazing the support I’ve received from so many, so thanks to you from the bottom of heart 🙂

As always, good writing and May God Bless You… 

 

The author that start it for me…

If you’ve read my bio then you know I’ve been writing for many, many years, but only started publishing in the last two years. For me it all started when I was a tender, young teenager and I picked up the first Danielle Steel book, Remembrance. I was entranced in the splendor of her writing. The story took me across the ocean to Italy and I was carried away with the story.

The story filled me with inspiration and helped kickstart my career as a writer, but of course I didn’t know that at the time. The book was filled with so many emotions such as anger, romance, love, grief, sadness and excitement. I was lost to the great romance book. I even wanted to go to Italy and experience this feeling there.

I read this two inch thick book twice that summer. The next year at school I actually did a book report on the book. My teacher was skeptical at first, but then she allowed it. Let’s just say, I turned many listeners over to Danielle Steel fans. I found myself scanning books in the store many times to grab her books.

Now, back then we didn’t have Amazon, so there was no looking up online. Then I was given a membership in the DoubleDay Book Club and that really did it for me. With the membership I was given several free books and yep, they were all Danielle Steel. When they arrived I was in awe. I was the happiest girl. I remember inhaling the scent of the newly printed pages and believe me when I say that I still do this with new paper backs.

I still have those many stories that I handwrote so many years ago. Although the writing has faded slightly, I can still feel the same excitement as I read them. Some of my books that have been published started from those books.

Do you have a author that’s inspired you? Tell us about them.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Audio books – Have you taken the leap yet?

I took the leap into audio books last year and haven’t looked back. The potential for expanding sales is enormous. This is a growing industry and allows for more creativity than just merely writing the book. It’s your book come to life.

When I first heard one of the auditions for my books I was mesmerized to say the least. It was like a refreshing look at my work, but out loud. I sat riveted to my seat. That was my work being read out loud and it sounded so different. Since I normally read my work out loud during one of my edits for each one, it was strange hearing someone elses voice.

As for sales, I actually do pretty well with my audio books. As I say it’s a growing market. WIth Audible.com they actually do advertising in many online avenues. i’ve seen my books on the weather online, a children’s site, and the newest place was quite a surprise, Pandora Radio. I was listening to Pandora yesterday and happened to look up at the screen and there I was. I did a double take. Wow, there on the right side of the screen was “With All My Heart”. I did a happy dance and then I sat down to take a closer look. My book was on the top spot, guess who was the 2nd spot? “Fifty Shades of Grey”! I had to take this one in. 

The irony of the advertisement positioning is this, “With All My Heart” is a Christian Romance and it’s being advertised right above a book about Christian Grey. Two totally different books on one advertisement. It made me a little excited that my book would be advertised with a bestseller, which could boost sales, but these are not the same kind of romance by far. I was glad to be on the top spot. Maybe people will pick up my book before the other one.

Using Audible’s site is so easy to set up. They make it streamlined. If you don’t want to narrate the book yourself, they’ll send the narrators to you. Try it. I know you’ll be pleased with the results.

Have you tried Audible yet? If not, then go over and give it a shot. All you do is go to ACX.com which is affiliated with Amazon and get started. Your audio books will be available on Audible.com, Amazon, and Apple iTunes.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

What’s in a review?

I’ve blogged about reviews before and each time I get a lot of response from fellow authors. Reviews can do a lot for an author. They can cause readers to flock to your book, run away from your book or make them unsure. I’ve been reading several posts from fellow authors regarding the trend in reviews and in some ways its not good.

As I’ve said before, if you’re thinking about reviewing a book, please read the book first. It’s so evident to an author when a reviewer hasn’t even read the book.

Let’s take a look at some of the things fellow authors have told me about some of their reviews that either made them laugh, cry or smile. Some may have caused all of these emotions.

1: I really enjoyed this book but I’m giving it a 2 star because I didn’t like the characters name. (This author was shocked when she saw this review. What’s funny is, even though it’s a 2 star review, which should be bad for the sales, the reviewer told readers it’s a good book.)

2: This book is horrible. Why did it have to be so unrealistic? People just can’t do this in real life. (Ok, this one made me laugh out loud. The book being reviewed was a Paranormal book about mythical creatures. I do give the reviewer credit, people really can’t do what the characters did in this book because they aren’t real. This author’s book sales actually escalated after this review.)

3: Why? Please stop this. I didn’t like this book at all. (This reviewer went on to email the author directly and tell her to stop writing. The author smiled as she was telling me about this review because she actually has hit the bestseller list in several countries with the very book this reviewer slammed. Her response was “It takes all kinds to make up the world”. By the way, this book is free and the reviewer did not pay for it to begin with.)

4: Great book. I can’t wait for more from this author. Waiting impatiently for next installment. (This author was thrilled with this review. It was her first book and she was afraid it wouldn’t do well.)

5: I loved the book, but could have been a little more descriptive. The writing was good and the character development was well received. (This was a constructive review that was helpful to the author. She said that actually she went back and edited a couple of areas of the book to correct these issues.)

This was just 5 of the responses I received after my last post on reviews. We rely on reviewers to be honest about their reviews of our work. The sad thing is many people out there are not very nice when they review a book. They strive to make the author look bad. What’s really sad is that a post I read a couple of months ago, several authors were slammed repeatedly on Amazon and the reviewers were not verified purchases. The wording went along the same line and did not mention anything from the book. The reviewer was slamming the author themselves. It’s sad but true.

My advice to new authors or even veteran authors that haven’t developed a thick skin is this. Use the reviews wisely. If the review is structured and they explain the flaws they see, then maybe check the flaws out. It could help. But if they’re nasty and scathing, just let them roll off your back. It’s hard, but as a published writer, you’ve opened yourself up to the public and sometimes they aren’t very nice. 

So, tell me your experiences with reviews. How do you react? Just remember, smile you’re a published author.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

 

 

 

Amazon Associate – Yep I’m on board now.

I’ve looked into the Amazon Associate program for a while, but hadn’t decided to jump until this week.Well, I’m now an Amazon Associate member and have a Amazon Store. I like having the actual buy links to my books. 

Of course, since I’m not the most computer literate person, I’ve been unable to attach the buy links to my WordPress Website, but I do have them on my Blogger website over at http://stephaniehurt-author.blogspot.com/. I know I’ll figure this out for my WP website, but after a couple of hours of reading help pages and trying everything, I had to step back. 

As for thee program itself, it’s fairly easy to set up. If I can do it, then most everyone can do it. So if you get a chance click over to my new Amazon Store and let me know what you think. http://astore.amazon.com/stehuraut-20. 

Now I’m just going to sit here by the crackling fire and sip my coffee as I finish my Christmas book. I’m so excited about this one. Can’t wait to give you a little snippet, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. 

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

What Category does your book fall in?

First off I want to send out my prayers to all my friends in the Philipines. I hope all of you and your families are safe and unharmed. 

Categories!!!

This is a quandry for most writers. There are so many genres now. When I was younger you had Romance, Historical Romance, Science Fiction, Mystery, Christian, and Non Fiction. I’m sure there were more, but that’s the ones I remember in the book stores. Now there’s everything from Young Adult to Shifter Paranormal and beyond.

As a writer this is something that always blows my mind. If you put your book in the wrong category it may not sell as well as in another category. But how do you choose? On Amazon and Smashwords I do a lot of research. It takes a little time, but it can help you to move up in the ranks. 

Here’s how I research:

1: I write down the top 5 categories I think my book would fit in. I look at the many facets of my book. Does it have any suspense? This could put it in a suspenseful romance category. Does it have paranormal aspects, mystery, horror, or historical? All of these things play into the choosing.

2: Don’t fall in love with these 5 categories because this step could throw them completely out of the list. Then go to Amazon or Smashwords and search that category. I learned a lot from doing this. I used to put all my romances in the Romance category. Then after researching it, that category is overrun with books. That means it will be harder to climb the charts. Then I started stepping out of the general category box and pull out the big guns. It really helped.

3: Amazon has a nifty little tool in the help section. It gives you the list of the most popular categories and the side lines that go along with it. Go to your KDP dashboard and then to help. From there all you need to do is type categories in the search box then it will give you the main categories then just click on yours and there you are. It help my sales immensely.

This is just a couple of ways to select your categories. Believe me that is a big part of your book sales. 

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

 

Crazy Maybe, Thankful Definitely…

How many writers have been told they’re nuts? I know I have. It’s almost hilarious the looks you get when you say you’re a writer. Some give you a sympathetic look. Some give you that ‘you can’t do anything else with your life,’ look. The one I love is the one where they look like ‘you’re nuts.” Ok, well maybe I am, but it’s something I love. 

Now anyone can say they’re writers, but how many can say they’re published writers? The first question usually asked is, “How’s that working out for you?” I always laugh and say it’s going wonderfully for me. I can finally say what I dreamed of years and years ago, “I’m a published author and am making money with my dream.” 

As for the “you can’t do anything else with your life”, well if you’ve read my bio you know I do a lot with my life. We are only given one chance at the pie so why not dip your fork into every slice you can. I run a successful accounting business which I built through experience and passion for the work. I’m a Children’s Ministry Director and dearly love what I do to minister to children. Then I get to do what only some sit and dream about. I get to put my dreams and thoughts into writing. I get to put romance, love, tears, heart and other emotions into someone’s life through my words. It’s a very humbling feeling to hear from my fans. Good or bad I have some faithful fans that ask when’s the next book coming out, where’s this character going from here, and so many more questions.

So where am I going with this post? I’m so thankful for the fans that support my writing. I’m thankful for the ones that write the adoring reviews and emails that I love reading every morning. This past year I’ve made friends all over the world and it’s been a very exciting time in my life. So, without further ado, I want to announce a huge sale. I’m doing a sale that will start today and run throughout Novemeber to show my thanks to all that follow me and even those that don’t but might start later.

The sales will be on all my stand alone books, not the bundles as they’re already reduced based on the amount of books included. You can find them at http://www.amazon.com/Stephanie-Hurt/e/B00850W7U8 and https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/StephaniePayneHurt and http://www.allromanceebooks.com/storeSearch.html?searchBy=author&qString=Stephanie+Payne+Hurt.

Soon they will show up on Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple, Sony and the other sites where my books are located. It usually takes about a week for the prices to show up on these sites, but the above link should start showing today and tommorow. So thanks and if you feel like it, give a review. I love to hear your thoughts.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…