Month: December 2015

Happy New Year!

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It’s New Year’s Eve. Time to say goodbye to 2015.

As usual, looking back, it feels like the year just flew by. For me, it was a year of both highs and lows. I guess that’s really always the case, although some years seem more of a rollercoaster ride than others. It’s a sappy cliché, but it’s also true – without the lows, I probably wouldn’t appreciate the highs as much.  So while I really could do without the lows (especially the ones from this year), I would hate for my life to be a plateau with no thrills at all, and the lows are what made me strive for the highs.

A few months ago someone very dear to me posted a quote attributed to Mark Twain on Facebook and it resonated deeply with me:

Twenty years from now
you will be more disappointed
by the things you didn’t do
than by the ones you did.
So throw off the bowlines,
Sail away from the safe harbour.
Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover.

sailing_to_the_sunrise

So that’s my wish for you for 2016. Explore. Dream. Discover. Cast off the bowlines and try something new. Be silly. Be brave. Be yourself and don’t care what anyone else thinks. Be healthy. Be happy. Be more.

Bring on 2016!

Crazy Canuck New Year’s Blog Hop

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whitespacecrazycanuckbloghop

Welcome to my stop on the Crazy Canuck New Year’s Blog Hop.  I hope you have been enjoying this holiday season with family and friends.  This time of year can be filled with plenty of hustle and bustle, so why not take a moment to sit back, put your feet up and enjoy a great book?

Here are a few of my favourite Canadian Fantasy authors:

Michelle Sagara – Chronicles of Elantra series

I love, LOVE this series.  The story follows the adventures of Private Kaylin Neya, a very likeable, less than perfect heroine, and some interesting supporting characters. Sagara has created a fascinating universe populated by six seperate races: the lion-like Leontine, the dragons (in human form), the elf-like Barrani, the Tha’lani mind readers, the angelic Aerians as well as lowly humans like Kaylin herself.  I love how the character of Kaylin, who is young both figuratively and literally in the first book, is allowed to grow with each new experience and obstacle she is forced to overcome.

The first book in the series is Cast in Shadow and I highly recommend you start there.

Kelley Armstrong – Women of the Underworld

Regardless of whether you prefer witches, werewolves, vampires or necromancers the series is sure to please all paranormal fans. There really is something for everyone. Armstrong has created a world that exists in our own, right there in front of us, but hidden. The series is full of strong female characters and of course, the men that are man enough to keep up with them.

While each book in the series is a stand-alone story, there is a lot of overlapping of characters from book to book so I recommend you read this series in order.  The first book is Bitten (now also a TV series on the Space channel)

Guy Gavriel Kay – The Last Light of the Sun, Under Heaven, and many others

Kay is a master of his art – the art of telling magical stories that are interwoven with enough historical fact that you can almost believe his fantastical, altered reality is real. His novels are a labour of love. Each one thoroughly researched and you can tell.  One of my all-time favourites is The Last Light of the Sun, a hauntingly beautiful, intelligent story about the Viking era of Scandanavia and the British Isles.  Another favourite is Under Heaven, a lyrical masterpiece that utterly and effortlessly sweeps you away, blending history and fantasy, immersing you in eighth-century Tang Dynasty China.

Kay has so many great books. I really loved them all.  I have to admit, his high fantasy Fionavar Tapestry trilogy is my least favourite of the bunch. I much prefer his historical fantasies.  Besides the two I mentioned above, I also loved The Lions of Al-Rasan and Sailing to Sarantium (and its sequel, Lord of Emperors).

Honourable Mentions:

Tanya Huff (The Enchantment Emporium) – Urban fantasy actually set in Canada, what a novel idea!

Charles de Lint (Moonheart, and too many others to mention) – A modern master of urban fantasy that combines folktale, myth, fairy tale, dreams and urban legend into pure magic

Jes Battis (Night Child) – Urban fantasy with a dash of CSI, set in Vancouver.

Julie Czerneda (A Turn of Light) – Pure fantasy yet a refreshing change from princes and fairies.

Enter to Win the Grand Prize!

Digital copies of a book from each participating author including:
Altering Authority by Ashley Dooley
Dead and Kicking by Lisa Emme
Something in the Air by Marie Landry
Magic Resistant by Veronica DelRosa
The Naughty List by Cori Vidae
Firefly: Ice Born by P.M. Pevato
Thirteen by Shannon Peel
Enemy Within by Marysol James
Questing for a Dream by P.D. Workman
Vice by Rosanna Leo
Lakeshore Secrets by Shannyn Leah
Guarding Midnight by Kacey Hammell
3013:Renegade by Susan Hayes
The Raven Room by Ana Medeiros
Alien Next Door: Complete Series by Jessica E. Subject
Slow Ride Home by Leah Braemel
One Gold Heart by Sadie Haller
Unconditional Devotion by Kayleigh Malcolm
Festive Persuasion by Charlene Roberts
Two $10 gift cards for Chapters-Indigo

Click the link below to visit the Rafflecopter page and enter to win.  Don’t forget to visit the other stops on the hop and get additional entries to the Grand Prize.

CLICK TO WIN!

Visit the other stops on the Blog Hop for more great Crazy Canuck posts and more chances to enter to win!

KEEP HOPPING!

Make sure to stop by and check out the posts of each of our hosts.  Not only will you get to learn more about some Canadian authors, but you’ll have the opportunity at each stop to enter the Grand Prize Giveaway.

Click the button below to see a list of the sites to visit.  Stop at them all!

It’s Almost Time! Starts Tomorrow!

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crazycanuckbloghop

The first ever Crazy Canuck New Year’s Blog Hop runs from December 27th to January 2nd.

Did you get a new reading device for the holidays? Perfect timing! Join in on the hop and find some great Canadian authors to load up on your Kindle, Kobo or iPad.

Check back here tomorrow for my blog post. I’ll be sharing some of my favourite Canadian fantasy authors with you and of course, you will have the opportunity to get in on the fabulous Grand Prize which includes:

Digital copies of a book from each participating author including:
Altering Authority by Ashley Dooley
Dead and Kicking by Lisa Emme
Something in the Air by Marie Landry
Magic Resistant by Veronica DelRosa
The Naughty List by Cori Vidae
Firefly: Ice Born by P.M. Pevato
Thirteen by Shannon Peel
Enemy Within by Marysol James
Questing for a Dream by P.D. Workman
Vice by Rosanna Leo
Lakeshore Secrets by Shannyn Leah
Guarding Midnight by Kacey Hammell
3013:Renegade by Susan Hayes
The Raven Room by Ana Medeiros
Alien Next Door: Complete Series by Jessica E. Subject
Slow Ride Home by Leah Braemel
One Gold Heart by Sadie Haller
Unconditional Devotion by Kayleigh Malcolm
Festive Persuasion by Charlene Roberts
Two $10 gift cards for Chapters-Indigo

And don’t forget to visit ALL of our participating bloggers and authors!

Lisa Emme PD Workman
Ashley Dooley Shannyn Leah
Marie Landry Susan Hayes
Shannon Peel Kacey Hammel
Veronica DelRosa Ana Medeiros
Cori Vidae Jessica Subject
Amie Stockton Kayleigh Malcolm
Marysol James Romarin Demetri
Natasza Waters Sadie Haller
PM Pevato Leah Braemel
Marie Johnston Charlene Roberts
Rosanna Leo

What’s Next? Kobo Next!

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Marketing your own book is hard, especially when you really don’t know what you are doing. I’ve experimented with a few things. Some were moderate hits, most misses. The next big thing is Kobo Next and starting today, Dead and Kicking is being promoted by Kobo as “your next must-read”.

I was very excited to get accepted into the Kobo Next program. Kobo Next is a curated list, as selected by merchandisers, of some of the best titles available on Kobo. For the next two weeks Dead and Kicking will be promoted by Kobo, displayed on the main page for at least one week and remain in the carousel of featured books for the next several weeks. Kobo presents these titles as “hidden gems that are poised to become the next big thing…” and they promote them throughout the month in various banners and emails. Hopefully this will get Harry’s series some much needed exposure on Kobo. Perfect timing with Tooth and Claw coming out in a little over a week.

Kobo Next

Thanks For Hopping!

/ lisaemme / Leave a comment

The Jingle Book Blog Hop has come to a close. Thanks to everyone for stopping by and leaving a comment. The draw has been made for the five copies of Dead and Kicking. It was conducted by my lovely assistants (my son and niece) and involved a highly regulated process that included slips of paper, a Santa hat and a rigorous game of rock, paper, scissors in order to determine who got to draw the fifth and final name.

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The winners have been notified.  Thanks again to all who participated.

Don’t forget to stop by again on the 27th to join in the Crazy Canuck New Year’s Blog Hop. We have a fantastic grand prize that includes books from nineteen participating Canadian authors.  Remember to visit everyone on the list to check out their posts on Canadian authors and books.

crazycanuckbloghop

We Have Your Results and the Test is Positive!

/ lisaemme / 3 Comments

(Pssst! Looking for the Jingle Book Blog Hop? Click here.)

So about a month ago, I told you about my experiment to improve my sales on Amazon. Basically, I moved my book, Dead and Kicking, from a category that had tens of thousands of other books listed to one that fit my book but had a significantly smaller number of books listed. The idea behind this is to improve a book’s ratings and by improving the ratings, increasing sales. The lower rank a book has, the easier it is for readers to find and therefore buy.

Here’s what I mean:

Before I made the change to Dead and Kicking‘s category, it was ranked (at that particular moment) #5740 out of 307,344 books in the Parnormal & Urban category on Amazon.com.  A person would have to be really persistent to go through the Amazon top seller’s list twenty books at a time to get to 5740, so basically unless a reader knew to look for it, they weren’t going to find Dead and Kicking.

After the change, I noticed an improvement in my rank almost immediately. The next day in fact, Dead and Kicking was ranked #140.  Not too shabby.  And it only improved from there, breaking into the Amazon.com top 100 in just a couple of weeks.

Things were even better on the Amazon.ca side of things.  The day after the change in category, Dead and Kicking sky-rocketed to #27!  That meant a reader only had to decide to click over to the next page once and my book would be visible in the top sellers list.  Three days later I hit lucky #13 on the list.  In other words it was on the top screen in the list so it would be immediately visible to a prospective buyer.

Lucky 13 Nov 24 Amazon.caSo did a better rank equate with increased sales?

YOU BETCHA!

I wish I could say it was a dramatic increase, but it wasn’t. It was a noticeable change, however, especially on Amazon.ca where my book was ranking higher.

As you can see from the graph below, sales were pretty steady before the change (the left side of the green line).  I was making sales but the numbers stayed pretty consistent.  After the change (as indicated by the green line), I saw steady growth in sales and momentum is continuing to build.

 

whitespaceIncreased visibility = increased sales

change in sales after category switch

The other thing I noticed immediately after the change is that my rank didn’t fluctuate as dramatically as it did when it was in its original category. When Dead and Kicking was first released, the rank would jump all over the place from the thousands to the hundreds and back again over the course of an hour or two.  With the new category, the fluctation is much slower and the rank usually stays constant for several hours at at time, if not the entire day.  That isn’t to say it doesn’t fluctuate at all, but the up and down swing is much shallower.

On Amazon.ca where my rank has been the best, there is a steady momentum towards the top five.  Hopefully it’s only a matter of time before it hits #1!  It was #4 all day yesterday 🙂

So, the moral of this story? Pick the categories for your book carefully. It does make a difference!

 

 

 

The Jingle Book Blog Hop Continues

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The-JingleBook-Blog-Hop

Get in the holiday spirit by hopping along with me on the Jingle Book Blog Hop.  Check out my post on Christmas Spirit for all the details.  Don’t forget there is a Grand Prize giveaway for a $25 Amazon Gift Card.  I’m also offering a chance to win one of five digital copies (epub or mobi) of Dead and Kicking.  Just comment on the original post and your name will be entered in the draw. Sign up for my mailing list (here) and get an extra entry to the draw.