How to Publish a Book Readers,

For the past few weeks, I have been joining my buddy Dawson Vosburg on his weekly call-in show JJ Talk Radio on Blog Talk Radio, and I've finally figured out how to add the widget to this site, so that you can listen and call in with your questions. 

You can listen listen live July 3 via the widget above between 8:30-9:30PM Eastern Standard Time and can call in Live with your questions about publishing and writing during that hour via (347) 843-4375.

If you miss us Live tonight (July 3), you can listen to the recorded show above and you can catch us next week on Thursday (July 9) at 8:30 PM Eastern Standard Time when we'll be talking with author Cayla Kluver. I hope to hear from you and I hope you call in!

Thanks so much for visiting us at How to Publish a Book!

Stacey 

Well, it is officially the end of June and I have had the bestselling month of my life. I am up to 2,024 copies of CLAWS and The Colorado Sequence for the month of June alone. Add to this nearly 800 books sold in May, and I am creeping toward 3,000 units total sold in a month and a half. This is so far beyond my expectations, I am fairly astonished.

The books just finally found a receptive audience who has embraced them. I've gotten nearly 25 reviews on Amazon from readers, and I can barely stay on top of all the emails and phone calls.

This is what a "break through" feels like. No doubt.

Today, I am guest blogging at my buddy David Terrenoire's place. Come by and drop a comment about the funny photo David posted!

Stacey

Hey, folks, I am guest blogging today at Roberto Scarlato's blog where I did an interview. Thanks so much, Roberto, for the excellent questions and for having me at your place!

Also, I am guest blogging at Mitch Wallace's place, where I reflect a little bit on the past 5-6 weeks and how the book has been doing on Kindle. Thanks, Mitch, for the opportunity!

Also, did an interesting Skype interview with author Holly Christine:

How to Publish a Book Readers,

I'm excited to bring you a Skype video call interview with an author today... this one was with Mike Hicks, the author of In Her Name. We ended up chatting quite a great deal about his writing process and about some of his thoughts regarding how to publish a book online via Amazon Kindle. In addition to his epic sci-fi fantasy novel, Mike has also written a How To Publish a Book for folks who need help uploading their online books to Amazon Kindle. Mike has been with Kindle as an author pretty much since the beginning, so his insights into how to publish a book online are grounded in knowledge, experience, and credibility. Enjoy this interview, and as always, thanks so much for visiting us here at How to Publish a Book.

--Stacey Cochran

My blog book tour rolls onward today with a visit to bestselling author Diane Chamberlain's blog. Diane is the author of nearly 20 novels and has a large and loyal readership. If you haven't checked out her books, I definitely recommend Secrets She Left Behind.

Thanks so much, Diane, for the opportunity to write at your place today!

Hey, folks, my blog tour rolls on today with a visit to Shelley Rodrigo's website and blog, where I discuss how technology has affected me on this particular tour.

Specifically, I talked about three different interviews I did yesterday; one was a text interview posted to a blog (much like this post), the next was a Skype video call, and the third was a telephone call-in Blog Talk Radio discussion streamed Live to the web.

I am posting links to the latter two below:

Here is the telephone call-in interview streamed over the internet.

Here's the text interview posted to onlinebookreview.org.

And here's the Skype video call:

Hey, folks, my blog tour has a four-day layover along the sunny shores of MitMoi.blogspot.com. Come bask in the sunshine, lather up in cocoa butter suntan lotion, and enjoy the crashing waves along the beach... while I chatter on about the launch of my new website onlinebookreview.org

For all the aspiring writers in the house, my new website onlinebookreview.org is my attempt to revolutionize book television and entertainment for the 21st century. We're looking for writers and videographers to develop video stories for a global audience. Come check us out!

Our first original interview at onlinebookreview.org is with bestselling suspense author Jon F. Merz. Jon waxes on the state of publishing, digital technologies, and what it was like appearing alongside Stephen King in the anthology From the Borderlands. A great first interview of what will hopefully be many more to come!

Thanks so much for stopping by How to Publish a Book. And have a great week, everybody!

Stacey

Hey, folks, I'd like to welcome guest blogger Dawson Vosburg to howtopublishabook.org today. Dawson is a fantastically talented young author of the novel Double Life. Enjoy!

Hey, folks, my blog tour rolls on today with a visit to podioracket.com, where I discuss some of the contributing factors to my Kindle success the past few weeks.

Thanks so much, Rhonda and Heather, for having me!

While out of town in Indiana today, I am guest blogging at First Offenders for my 25th day of the blog tour. Read and enjoy!

Day 22 of my 45-Day Blog Book Tour for CLAWS finds me answering questions in an interview at Megalith's Blog. Thanks so much, Megalith for the interview. You did a great job!

My Kindle sales seem to be holding steady. In less than two weeks, I have sold 1,048 copies with very minimal (and certainly inexpensive) marketing strategies. I have no idea if I can maintain this pace; that's the big unknown right now. But if I could, that'd be somewhere in the neighborhood of 35,000-40,000 Kindle copies sold per year. That's a lot of readers for a self-published author.

Really, the name of the game at this stage is establishing your base. And even if the numbers turn out to be half that (or even a quarter of 40,000), that's still a very solid base to work from should my books ever be picked up by a major and my name starts showing up in bookstores around the country on paperbacks or hardcovers. It's all about building a career, and the Kindle has given me an opportunity to reach an audience like nothing I've seen before.

A lot of newbie authors want a book deal. But 9 out of 10 debut authors tank and don't break even. And if an author tanks like this, there's a huge chance his/her publisher will not ask for more novels. I've seen this happen over and over with debut author friends who are dead in the water before their careers even get started.

Part of the reason why 9 out of 10 debut authors can't break even is that these debut authors have no base (having 50 friends and family buy your book is not a base, but having 20,000 Kindle readers who have bought your book before is a base). What the Kindle is doing is helping to construct a framework for writers on the verge of their first major book deal to build a base readership, name recognition, and hopefully fans who will buy an author's book and write reviews, when it comes out from a major book publisher.

The blog book tour for CLAWS rolls on...

Today (Day 18) I'm at Murderati discussing the worst haircuts of my life! Come join in the hilarity....

Hey, folks, I am pulling into Day 16 of my 45-Day blog tour and I have definitely started to break out on Amazon Kindle. Over at my good friend Dusty Rhoades' place I discuss how I've sold over 400 copies of CLAWS and The Colorado Sequence in the past 3-4 days.

Dusty Rhoades is the author of the Jack Keller Series of crime novels, as well as the author of the outstanding stand-alone Breaking Cover.

Day 14 of my blog tour sees me visiting my good buddy Dawson Vosburg's blog. Dawson is an extraordinarily talented young suspense writer whose debut novel Double Life is available from Amazon.com

At Dawson's place, I discuss a recent surge in sales for my books on the Amazon Kindle.

Check it out! And pick up a copy of Dawson's Double Life.

Day 13 of the blog tour to promote CLAWS sees me visiting my wife Susan's blog, where I reflect on the strength of our relationship (and healthy relationships in general) and how some of the core attributes of a healthy relationship are also essential to a sustainable writing career.

Additionally, I had the good fortune to interview #1 New York Times bestselling suspense author Lee Child yesterday. This interview unearths some of the fundamental personality and work-ethic choices a writer can make to ensure a good relationship with his/her publisher and agent. Lee's on tour for his recently published book GONE TOMORROW. 

Today marks day 12 of my blog tour to promote CLAWS, and I am visiting my friend Heather Hummel's excellent blog. At Heather's place, I discuss some of what I've learned from doing a blog tour so far, and I assess the effectiveness of a blog tour. Heather is the author of the book Through Hazel Eyes, which is available from Amazon.

In other news, my Amazon Kindle versions of CLAWS and The Colorado Sequence have suddenly taken off in the past 12 hours... earlier this morning CLAWS hit #24 overall in the Kindle Action-Adventure category, #28 in the horror category, and #100 in the Kindle suspense category. It was ranked overall for all 285,000 Kindle books at #1,266

There's several factors contributing to the sudden interest in both books, and I'll be sure to post about it later this week while guest blogging. I've never had a book just take off like this, and so it's very exciting to watch.

Take care, folks, and thanks for reading!

Stacey

Day 10 of the CLAWS blog tour, and I'm still breathing! Today, I am at my friend Sarah Weathersby's blog. My post describes the background and motivation I had for writing CLAWS.

Day 9 of my blog tour sees me visiting my good friend Barbara Quinby's blog Weave and Sew Dust. At Barbara's place today, I decided to talk a little bit about the TV show I work on in Raleigh, how the shows work, how we get guests, and some of the things I've learned working there the past couple of years.

Also, we've got another 5-copy buyer of CLAWS Julie C. Thanks so much, Julie, for your support!

Day 7 of the blog tour sees me interviewed by Carol Denbow on her blog A Book Inside. Thanks, Carol, for the great interview.

In other news, it looks like I've got another Skype interview lined up for Sunday, this one with PeopleTalk of the UK.

Day 6 of my blog tour sees me at my friend Anthony Policastro's blog and another friend Marcus Sakey's The Outfit. Today is going to be a busy day. In fact, the next 48 hours are going to be very busy.

We have a lot of stuff going on in Raleigh. Take care, folks. And buy your copy of CLAWS.