Saturday, November 12, 2016

New Author Promo Site from Genre Pulse

Perfect timing!
Just as I am preparing my blog post about the amazing promo I did about two weeks ago, one of the sites I used--one I only have fantastic things to say about--came out with a new service today. It's an Author Coupon site! They will list all the sites that have discounted promo services in one easy to use location. This is really huge, and I'm so happy it's from a promo site I already trust. James at Genre Pulse is great to work with.
Check it out and let me know what you think in the comments!

http://sociali.io/ref/H4152340







Sunday, October 16, 2016

A Taste of Absolution

I know many of you have been waiting for Absolution, the fourth book in The Clandestine Saga, for over a year. I am working on it now, and my tentative release date is December 1st with pre-order available through Amazon on November 1st. More info on that to come soon. However, the tone will be a bit different in this one. I am hoping to make the Vampires a bit more terrifying.  Since it is almost Halloween, who isn't ready for a little scare? Here's an excerpt from Chapter Seven.  This is completely unedited! I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
Absolution by ID Johnson


Lightening illuminated the sky off in the distance, and thirteen year old Julia Cannon bolted upright in bed.  Looking out her bedroom window, she saw that the wind was picking up and a rumble of thunder confirmed her suspicion that it was about to storm.  She hated storms, always had, but was particularly frightened of them since a tornado had ripped through their neighborhood when she was ten, and while her own home was hardly touched, seeing many of her friends left homeless, one of them motherless, had been enough to make her anxious every time the skies looked threatening.
Another boom, this one closer, made her jump. She looked at the time. It wasn’t quite one o’clock yet, which meant her mother probably wasn’t home yet.  She worked as a nurse in Tulsa, which at least twenty minutes away from their home in Catoosa on a good night, and now that it was raining, she probably wouldn’t be home for at least another half an hour.  Another crack of lighting sliced across the sky, and Julia pulled the covers up to her neck, closing her eyes for a moment, hoping that would somehow calm her nerves; it didn’t and the next peel of thunder sent her cowering beneath the sheets.
A bellow of wind brought in the rain. Julia peered out from under the blanket just as a flash of lightening illuminated the sky and she could see the deluge coming down in sheets now.  A tree branch began to screech its way across the glass in her bedroom window, and though she could see the culprit each time the sky lit up, she couldn’t help but imagine, perhaps, it was something else; perhaps it was really the long sharp claw of a witch floating beneath that same scraggly old maple. The flashes began to illuminate the objects in her room as well, and as her eyes began to adjust from darkness to light, back into darkness again, she began to watch as the shadows in her room shifted and changed their forms. She blinked her eyes, holding them shut for a moment, assuring herself that her closet door was still firmly shut, that no one was sitting in her rocking chair across the room, that nothing had slithered beneath her bed.
Finally, when she could stand the ravages of her imagination no more, she slid her hand out from beneath the bed and picked up her cell phone.  She quickly dialed her mother, and with each ring, her heartbeat increased. Eventually, her mother answered with a distracted, “Julia? What are you doing up?”
“Sorry, Mama,” she whispered sharply. “The storm woke me up. I was wondering if… if you were about home.”
The connection wasn’t good, the storm likely interfering with the signal.  “I’m driving home now, honey,” her mom reassured her. “But it’s raining pretty hard. I’ll be there in a few minutes. Now, go back to sleep. Okay?”
“All right, Mama,” Julia agreed.  “Be careful.”
“I will, sweetheart. See you in a bit. I love you,” her mother replied.
Before Julia could respond, her mother ended the call, and she found herself forced back into utter aloneness, the storm still shaking her house and her soul.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of,” Julia assured herself aloud.  “It’s just a storm. There’s no tornadoes, or my mom would have said. And there’s no witches… or ghosts… or vampires.”
With the last word, Julia heard a soft creaking sound from downstairs, followed by a shuffle, and then complete silence. Her heart stopped; was that her mother coming in the back door? Was it her imagination? Or was it… something else?
She listened with her whole being, waiting to see if she heard footsteps on the stairs. If it had been her mother, she would have said something, since she knew Julia was still awake. And, if she had been so close to home, wouldn’t she have said she was about to pull into the driveway? No, it couldn’t have been her mother.  Perhaps, it had only been her imagination. She was scared--and jumpy.  Just then, she thought she heard another small creak from the living room, as if the floorboards were shifting under the weight of someone--or something. If it were a murderer, surely he would have made his way up the stairs by now. Her mind shot to the news she had heard today, about the Jogging Path Slayer in Philadelphia. Maybe he had made his way here, to Oklahoma, to her house. Maybe he had decided to start murdering young girls in their beds instead of joggers. Maybe she would be his next victim.
She knew it all sounded ridiculous. Murderers didn’t just wait downstairs for you to come down so they could kill you. It was nothing; it had to be nothing. Still, she listened carefully for another sound.  She heard nothing, except for the boom of the thunder outside. Maybe she couldn’t hear him climbing the stairs because of the storm.  
“You’re being ridiculous,” she whispered. “Are you a little girl or a woman? You’re old enough to stay home by yourself. Surely, you can go downstairs and make sure the house is still locked up.”
She hesitated for a moment, wanting to hop out of bed and go alleviate her own fears, but she was still scared. Suddenly, there was a droaning noise, and her ceiling fan turned off. It came back to life for a split second, but then it went off again. The power was out.  Now, the terror began to well up inside of her again. Not only was she all alone, a storm raging outside, strange noises downstairs, she wouldn’t even be able to turn on the lights.  
There was a flashlight downstairs; she knew exactly where her mother kept it, on top of the refrigerator. It was pretty powerful. If she could go get that, she might feel more at east until her mom got home. Of course, getting there would be horrifying.  She did have the flashlight on her phone, but it wasn’t very strong.  She took a deep breath. Her mom always said she should have a flashlight when the power went out in case something happened and she needed to go outside or someone came to the door to see if she was safe. With another deep breath, she slid out from under the covers and put her feet in her slippers.  She grabbed her robe, and hands shaking, slid it on, tying the belt tightly around her waist.
“All right, Julia,” she whispered.  “Stop being a baby. You can do this.”
She picked up her phone, trying to decide whether she should use the flashlight to make her way down the stairs or just leave it off. After all, if there were someone--or something--waiting for her downstairs, the flashlight would alert him that she was coming. If she left it off, she could be more stealthy, and maybe he wouldn’t know she was coming. If she saw him first, she could maybe get away or hide. Or wait for her mother to come home.
Maybe she should wait for her mother to come home.
“You’re such a baby,” she said, clutching her phone. For now, she left the light off. She knew her way down the stairs in the dark, and the flashes of lightning were enough to help her find landmarks along the way.
With another deep breath, she pulled herself to her feet and willed herself to jump away from the bed so that no spindly hands could reach out from beneath and grab her ankles.  Of course, nothing happened, and she hurried past the closet and the rocking chair--was it moving?--and made her way out of her bedroom into the hallway.
Their house was two story, but it wasn’t very big.  There were two bedrooms up here, hers and her mom’s, and then downstairs there was a living room, kitchen, a small parlor, and a dining room. The stairs led to the living room where the  front door was located. Her mom always pulled into the car port and used the back door. So there was absolutely no reason why the front door should be unlocked or disturbed in any way. From the top of the stairs, she peered down below, trying to ascertain whether or not it looked as if it had recently been opened; she couldn’t tell.  
She approached the top of the stairs. Inhaling deeply, she put her foot down gently on the top step.  No creak.  After a moment, she slowly picked up her other foot and put it down on the next step. Again, not a sound.  Grasping the handrail to steady herself, she repeated the process, one step after the next, pausing each time the lightning and thunder shook her soul, and cautiously made her way down the stairs.  
When she reached the landing at the bottom of the stairs, something brushed against her arm. Jumping, she flailed her arms out wildly, catching a branch of her mother’s ficus plant as she did so. Her heart pounding, she pressed her hands to her chest, still grasping her cell phone. “It’s just a plant,” she thought to herself, afraid to say anything out loud now.  
It took her a few seconds to regain her composure.  Once she had calmed down just a bit, she slowly entered the living room.  She surveyed the room cautiously. Even with the help of the lightning, she didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.  The sofa stood between her and the front door.  As she carefully stepped around it, she glanced back over her shoulder. She noticed then that the closet door was slightly ajar, which seemed odd. But as she turned to peer into the dark space about ten feet behind her, she didn’t see anything alarming.

It wasn’t until she returned her attention to the front door that something caught her attention.  She wasn’t sure what it was at first. Holding her breath, and feeling her heart stop mid-beat, she slowly took a step forward, squinting in disbelief as she attempted to confirm that what her eyes were seeing was really there.  She took another step forward, and then, she was certain. There, in the glass of the front door, she could clearly see a face. But this was no ordinary human face. This was something else entirely.  The skin was so pale, it was practically glowing in the dark, the lightning disclosing bloodshot steel gray eyes. Long stringy black hair framed the ghoulish features, the lips were blood red as well, and though the expression was frozen in a grimace, the teeth were elongated and sharp, the nose wrinkled in a snarl. It was as if someone had propped a Halloween mask outside on her porch.  The cell phone slipped from Julia’s trembling hand, and with another crash of thunder, the sudden realization that this face not only was no mask, but that it was not on her porch at all invaded her very soul, and a ripple of terror swept through her body. Just as she opened her mouth to scream, she saw the creature step fully out of the closet and step quickly in her direction, arms outstretched.


What do you think will happen to Julia? Find out in Absolution, coming soon! And if you haven't read the first three books in the Trilogy, you can find Book 1 Transformation here.

And now you can pre-order Absolution for only 99 cents through December 1, 2016 here.

Saturday, August 13, 2016

Advertising Through Amazon is Working for Me!

I've been running adds for my Kindle published books through Amazon for over a year. Most of the time, my ACos (Advertising Cost of Sales) runs around 400%, but I set up some new adds at the beginning of this month, and they are doing really well. One of them is actually at 75%, another at 102%--which means they are actually profitable. People are seeing my adds, clicking on them, and buying my book!  I know that's how it's supposed to work, but it hasn't been working that way for me, until this new set of adds.  So what did I do differently this time? Good question! Let me see if I can explain!
First of all, I took advantage of all of the room I've been given within the add without repeating anything.  I didn't restate the title, as I have in the past. I didn't include information they can get from the title, the cover, or anything unimportant.  I tried to compliment the synopsis so that, once a potential reader clicks through, they can find out different information from the book blurb, not a repeat of what I already said.  I think this has helped!
My current add for Transformation

I'm also not running ads for the second and third book in my series. People are probably not going to buy those books until after they buy the first one, so I may as well sink my advertising money into that first book instead of the second and third.
The books that are doing the best have the most professional coves as well. They are the two that I paid the most for. Most of my books do have professionally designed covers, but when it comes to that initial image, you get what you paid for. Look at these three books. Can you tell me which cover I paid the most for?



The answer is Ghosts of Southampton. I paid $30 on Fiverr for the cover for Resurrection, and I did the cover for Doll Maker myself. Transformation is selling really well with these new ads, and I definitely think the professional cover is helping!
I've seen a huge boost to my sales this week, and even though I'm still not a "Best Seller," it's nice to see my books climbing the charts!  I'm having more luck running ads through Amazon Kindle than anywhere else I've ever tried!
Where do you like to advertise? What works for you?

Friday, May 13, 2016

How to Publish a Book That Doesn't Suck (In 4 Easy Steps)

Let me start by saying, I am no publishing expert. These are just words of wisdom I have picked up as I have traversed the field of writing, editing, and publishing. Besides writing eight books, I have edited hundreds of manuscripts, and read thousands of published works, many of which were self-published.  Based on this vast experience, this is my advice to you, my fellow members of the Indie Writing Club.

1) Think long and hard about your plot, talk it out with someone, and look for holes.
Don't let your readers fall in a plot hole!

Pretty much anything you can think of has been done, one way or another, before you were even born. It's hard to think of a completely unique idea.  Sometimes authors get overzealous with their creative juices and end up concocting story lines that don't make sense or have lots of plot holes in them. If your story idea is no good, the flow is messed up, events happen out of order, the pacing is off, or it doesn't make sense--it's not a very good story. Find someone you trust (another writer, perhaps) and talk through the plot before you even start writing. Otherwise, you may be spending a lot of time writing a really crappy book.

2) Take your time
Time is on your side!

It seems like some authors try to turn out a new book every couple of months. If you've got a team of experts behind you, maybe you can do this. Otherwise, slow down a little bit and make sure that what you are producing is a quality product. I know I published my first book, Deck of Cards, before it was ready, and I paid for it. If you don't believe me, check out the one star review that is still haunting my dreams today. Even though I have since gone back and made a lot of changes (including hiring a new editor, having several other authors read over it and suggest changes, etc.) that particular reader had a poor experience, and I may never see that horrible review go away.  Let my mistake pay off for you and learn from it. Slow down and make sure that all of your ducks are in a row before you hit publish.

3) Hire a good editor!
Everyone can benefit from a good editor

Someday, in all your spare time, look over a random sampling of ebooks on Amazon and notice how many of them list an editor. Now, of the ones that do, look to see how many of them are Indie books.  Have you noticed that not very many Indie books list an editor? There are a lot of reasons for this. Some people just don't think about giving their editor credit. Some editors would rather not be listed. However, in my recent experience, I have noticed that a lot of Indie books don't seem to have an editor to list. You need an editor--or at the very least a good proofreader; you cannot possibly catch all of your own mistakes on your own.  Of course editing costs money, but there are some good editors available for less than you might think. You can find some of them on Fiverr, and the best ones will usually take more than one look. It's worth your time and money to hire someone else to look over your work--and no, your spouse doesn't count unless he or she happens to be an editor.

4) Beta, beta, beta!
Let other people read your work before you publish it

Please don't publish a book that no one else, other than you, has ever read.  You may get lucky and have a great story with no plot holes and nothing out of sequence that makes perfect sense the first time around. But chances are that's not what you have. You need at least a few people to read over it before you release it to the world to check for all of the other things we've talked about. They are not necessarily proofreaders or editors, although I have had a few betas catch mistakes my editor missed.  I try to have at least five, and sometimes as many as twelve, people read over every book I write before I publish it. People who give lots of feedback and ask lots of questions always get invited back, and I usually give them a signed paperback copy. It's not hard to get a few friends to read your stuff, but I suggest getting a few other people as well--fellow writers, friends of friends, avid readers, etc., You want people who won't spare your feelings.  There are a lot of groups on Facebook that provide beta readers. You just have to look around, and don't be afraid to ask. Most people don't mind getting something for free and having their opinion listened to as well.

Again, these are just my suggestions. If you follow them and your book still sucks, don't blame me.  I love Indie writers and the whole idea that we no longer have to have our work approved by big publishing houses to get our stories told, but we have to be smart about it. Let's work together to stop the crappy books and fill in those plot holes with roses, not manure.
If there's anything I can do to assist you in your writing endeavors, please let me know. You can reach me at authoridjohnson@gmail.com. Happy writing!

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

I Hate Pirates!

I've been attacked by pirates--and I am livid!
And they aren't even the cool Captain Jack kind.

These are the kind that take your books and give them away for free--without your permission.
Listen, I'm not a big time author. I barely make enough money a month from my eight books to pay the electric bill. If I'm ever going to be a "real" author, I need every penny that comes from my writing to go into my pocket--so I can feed my kids!
Today, I decide to do a search of each of my titles on Google to see if any of them happened to show up where they shouldn't. I didn't think I'd find anything. I mean, after all, who am I that anyone would want to bother to upload my novels to a pirating site?  They're practically free already!
Well, I was wrong.  I found Cordia's Will, Deck of Cards, Transformation, Repercussion, and Resurrection all available for instant download on multiple sites. For free. Without my permission.
And some of these sites are impossible to contact. The ones that did have contact buttons got an ear full, believe me, and my threats of sending in lawyers are no joke either (as soon as I can find one who has a few spare moments and works for peanuts, like me.)
Who do these people think they are? And more importantly, who in the world would dare use these sites? Don't they know they are stealing? Do they care? If you really want to read my book that badly for free, let me know and I'll send it to you! But don't take it without asking. That's just wrong.
Some of the sites were even in other countries.  I have no idea what I can do to get them to take down my books.
There are enough free books available from authors on Amazon who give their permission you can read free books for the rest of your life. I have over 4000 books on my Kindle app that I have downloaded from Amazon when authors are giving them away for free. There's no need to use these pirate sites.
So... I'm super bummed right now about this whole thing And really, really pissed off.  Please help spread the word that people should not download books from these sites. If it's not Amazon, Nook, Kobo, Smashwords, or something like that, it's probably not legitimate. So don't do it!
And thanks for reading my rant.  If you'd like to offset my loss in earnings from these swindlers, please feel free to visit my Amazon page and buy one of my books. It will cost you up to three dollars, but you'll feel okay about that when you're not burning in eternal hell fire!



Saturday, March 5, 2016

Ghosts of Southampton: Titanic Cover Reveal

I'm so excited to announce I finally have a cover for my upcoming release, Ghosts of Southampton: Titanic!
GS will be ready for pre-order soon!!

This was my entry for the 2015 3-Day Novel Writing Contest. Though the jury is still out on a long list, short list, and/or winner, I decided to go ahead and move forward with the novel because this is a story I think my readers will really enjoy, and I just can't keep waiting for an official word from the judges.
So, my plan is for GS to be ready for pre-order on March 15 with a release date on April 15, which is the same date the ship sank in 1912.
The process of choosing a cover was not easy! I worked on it myself for quite sometime. Finally, I decided to hire the same designer who re-did the cover for Transformation last month.  It's great to finally see Meg's face with my own eyes!
I'd love to hear your feedback about the cover, and the title of the book. I've heard that it is confusing, that it seems like it might be non-fiction, or that putting the word Titanic in the title is overused.  What do y'all think?
Also, if you would like a copy for free in exchange for an honest review, please email me at authoridjohnson@gmail.com.
Who's looking forward to finally reading Meg and Charlie's love story after all of these months?

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Why Serendipity is Dyslexic: Lessons From Doll Maker

Many of you followed my NaNoWriMo journey on this very blog, reading along as I wrote The Doll Maker's Daughter at Christmas, publishing chapter by chapter in the raw as it was finished. And many of you may have been surprised at the darker parts of the story. This is a bit of a spoiler, but the reader discovers pretty quickly that Serendipity has accidentally killed her mother and two older sisters because she can't read.  I think it also becomes evident pretty quickly that Serendipity clearly has a severe form of dyslexia, and that's what led to the awful accident that claimed the lives of her family members.
So, why in the world would I write something like that in a Christmas book?
First of all, the theme is rather dark anyway--it's Gothic--dreary England, Victorian era, cursed house, etc.  So a gruesome death fit right in. However, that wasn't my primary reason for including this tragedy--it's because I wanted to bring some attention to dyslexia in a way that stood out.  Dyslexia is the number one undiagnosed learning difference/disability in the nation. One out of every five children has dyslexia. If we are going to start finding these kiddos and helping them, we've got to start talking about this issue. And as a writer, the best way for me to draw attention to it is to write about it.
Now, certainly I realize this is a very extreme case. The likelihood that anyone would accidentally kill their own family because of dyslexia is pretty ridiculous.  Nor do I want people to think that I believe people with dyslexia are dangerous or that if you have dyslexia, we should fear you. On the contrary, my own daughter has dyslexia, lots of the students I work with have dyslexia, and I have recently started teaching dyslexia--so, no, I absolutely did not want to bring negative attention to the issue; I simply wanted to make a statement that dyslexia is real, it takes patience and understanding, and it can be treated with the right program.
In the story, Serendipity is so focused on her differences that she can't see anything positive about herself until she finally meets some people who are willing to accept her differences and help her learn to read despite her dyslexia. She finds out that she actually has a lot of talents and skills that other people do not have, and that these can, in part, be attributed to her dyslexia. She finds out that many brilliant thinkers and creators in history have also had dyslexia, and that these people went on to be major contributors to science, art, politics, mankind in general.
While, at first glance, the idea that Serendipity's dyslexia causes her to make a catastrophic mistake may seem detrimental to the cause of bringing awareness to the issue, I hope that by the time the reader finishes the book he or she will see the true meaning behind my extreme interpretation. Beyond that, this is a story about overcoming obstacles, recognizing one's strengths, and realizing one's potential. (And it's also about Christmas, and who doesn't like Christmas?)
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the issue!