Hello,
As you have seen from my numerous posts, I’m doing a 99 cent promotion of Blood Orange this week. (Sorry, I feel like I’m running an NPR pledge drive). Anyway, the readers have come through. I have two days to go and I’m in the top 100 on the Kindle store in 3 categories and in the top 13,000 overall on Amazon.
I couldn’t be more pleased and humbled.
Thank you!
I’m excited to announce, for a limited time, my latest thriller, Blood Orange, is on sale for the low price of 99 cents.
Why am I doing this?
Originally, this book was set to launch on November 13, 2015. Promotional events were scheduled. The book was going to be heavily promoted through the holiday shopping season to try to maximize sales.
If you remember that 11/13/15 date, it was also the date that terrorists attacked multiple locations in Paris, France. One of those locations was a sports venue during a soccer match. Blood Orange focuses on a very similar event. I thought it would be in bad taste to launch and promote the book so soon after this tragedy. It was likely devastating to potential sales, but I felt that it was the right thing to do.
I started a much more subtle promotional campaign at the beginning of the year and sales were decent, but I wanted to give it a bit more of a push. I’m proud of this book and want to see it succeed to it’s fullest. Thus the lowered price from the period of 2/21/16 through 2/28/16.
Here is a synopsis of the book:
Blood Orange is a terrorism thriller set in today’s high tension world of foreign and domestic threats against soft targets. The story begins on the night of the biggest game in men’s college basketball. Just as the two rivals are squaring off in the quest to crown a champion, tragedy strikes. A nation mourns as a team of elite specialists searches for those responsible.
Follow Navy Officer Brad Rafferty and his team through the twists and turns of this terrorism thriller to see if you can determine who is good and who is evil.
Here is what readers are saying about this novel:
“Very well written plot that could be current. The characters are great and well developed.”
“I highly recommend this book and this author. I look forward to more.”
“Great story, many twists and turns! You don’t want to put it down! Loved the fast pace! Want to see more of Rafferty and his team.”
If you find yourself heading into the weekend looking for something to read, check it out. It’s just a $.99 investment (free if you’re a Kindle unlimited member). The most important part of this process for me is hearing what you think. I will keep on writing as long as there are readers that will read my stuff and give me feedback.
There has been a lot of media coverage over Amazon’s opening of brick and mortar bookstores. If you’re expecting Barnes and Noble on steroids or Books a Billion, you might want to check out this article. I was expecting a possible venue that would feature indie authors. Silly me. With words like ‘heavily curated’ and ‘surplus stock’ you might want to check out this Forbes article for yourself. Check it out here.
I had the pleasure of doing a television interview for my new book, Blood Orange, on a Syracuse, NY television station. The book is centered around an attack on Syracuse’s Carrier Dome during a big basketball game. It’s partly based on historical events in the area. So, here is the interview. Please let me know what you think, but try to be nice.
Click here
As an author, there are significant challenges. Finding original ideas and turning them into something interesting is a significant challenge. If you are a traditionally published author, you have to not only find an idea that interests you, but it has to interest your publisher as something marketable and viable so that they can make money. You also have to please your agent so that they will push your work on a publisher.
As an independent author, coming up with ideas, in my opinion, is the smallest hurdle to be faced. Because we are independent, we are free to publish whatever interests us and then take that work directly to the readers. One thing that indie authors discover quickly through social media, there are niche reader markets for just about every genre you can think of. If you like to right paranormal zombie western romance erotica, there will be a group that will read it.
My own genre, private investigator mysteries, seems to appeal to readers of a certain ‘seasoned’ age. That’s fine with me. I will join that demographic in the next ten years or so and these retiring baby boomers have time to read and money to buy books.
I deviated from this genre for my terrorism thriller, Blood Orange, and found that, indeed, the demographics of the readers that favored this book changed. This is something that, as an independent author, I believe you can get away with by searching out the appropriate niche for your writing.
After landing on what genre you want to write in, there are many other challenges that the independent author faces. Becoming known is a significant challenge. When I first started out, I put my first book on Amazon and hoped for the best. My friends and family bought some and posted some reviews.
At this early stage, I got some help from a self-proclaimed expert promoter of independent authors. I did get some traction from some of the things that this person helped me with. Interviews and reviews appeared on various blogs. I was interviewed on a podcast, and slowly but surely, my exposure grew a bit.
I soon found that the techniques that this person was using to help me gain exposure were easily achievable on my own. I gradually started to take these things on and found that my reader base continued to grow steadily.
Getting good, constructive reviews on Amazon and other platforms is a great start. It can be a slow process, however, building up a collection of reviews. One technique that helps is offering your book for free over a weekend. During my first giveaway, I had over 1,000 copies of my first book downloaded and I saw the reviews begin to grow. With the reviews came additional readers.
I want to make this blog post the first in a series that deals with the challenges that we face as indie authors. What I need are your ideas and feedback regarding the challenges that you’ve faced. One thing I learned early on is that I am not competing with my fellow indie authors. We are all in this together and can learn from each other.
So, let’s help each other. Let’s share challenges and ideas so we can grow as a community.
I look forward to your comments and feedback.
When I jumped into the indie author scene, it was a calculated risk. Like I do with a lot of decisions, I looked at the pros and cons.
Pros:
Cons:
Obviously, the pros outweighed the cons for me. The main factor was my age. Becoming a novelist after age 50 is daunting enough without the rejection letters and constant queries to publishing houses that don’t want unproven ‘seasoned’ authors. I wanted to get my writing out there and let the readers tell me if it stunk or not. Of course, my first reader was my wife of 30 years. I knew that she would not ‘blow smoke’ if she didn’t like my writing. She liked the first book and that gave me the confidence to move to the next step.
I hired a very intelligent, long-time friend of mine to be my editor. When I say ‘hired’, that’s a bit of a stretch. She edited the book for free with the promise of whatever I could pay her as the book made profits. I knew that, as a friend, this wouldn’t just be a job for her, she would also tell me if the book had weak points, which it did, and be honest about it’s viability, which she was.
In the end, it all worked out. I am now four novels in, along with two non-fiction books, and I still have the same passion I did in the beginning. Am I ready to quit my day job? Not yet. Although, my earnings from writing have doubled each year since I started. Each book I release seems to outperform the previous one. I must be doing some things right.
The one piece that still is elusive is getting that recognition. I’m doing what I can, but it’s still a challenge. This year, I created a street team. I honestly didn’t think that anyone would be interested in promoting my books. I solicited interest from my mailing list and immediately got responses. Instead of the two or three I expected, I got 30 volunteers in the first several hours and cut off the street team membership at that number. They have been a loyal group trudging out to bookstores and libraries loyally with the promise of signed copies of my latest book. I owe them tremendously.
So, I may write more about this in the future. This has been somewhat cathartic. I would love to have this blog start off a discussion. What journey did you go through as an independent author? What has worked and what hasn’t? Let’s help each other.
As always, your comments are most welcome.
About Don Massenzio:
Don Massenzio was born in Syracuse, New York, to first generation Italian-American parents. He is an avid reader. Some of his favorite authors include Harlan Coben, David Morrell, Stephen King, and Hugh Howey. His favorite book of all time is ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’.
Don began writing as a way to combat the long hours of travel and numerous hotel stays that are part of the ‘glamorous’ world of corporate travel. He uses writing as a therapeutic outlet. He recently took the jump to sharing his work with others.
His first published long work is the novel, Frankly Speaking. It is the first of a series of books focused on the character, Frank Rozzani, a Florida private detective. The book is a throwback to the days of pulp detective novels with a tip of the hat to Jim Rockford from 70’s television and The Rockford Files.
The second Frank Rozzani detective novel, Let Me Be Frank is now available. His third book in the Frank Rozzani series was released on April 24th, 2015 and is available on Amazon.com in both Kindle and Paperback formats.
It’s been an active weekend. A large number copies of my short story collection, Random Tales, has been downloaded. Today is the last day to get your copy before the price goes back up to $.99. It has four stories in various genres.
Here is a little bit about the four stories:
The book is absolutely free in the Amazon Kindle format this weekend, 1/22-1/24. After that I will be permanently pricing it at $.99. Why am I doing this? I think these stories are worth reading and I want to get them exposure. Also, for those of you that have not read my work, this is a great way to introduce you to my writing.
Please enjoy this free gift. You can download it here.
As always, your comments, questions, and feedback are welcome.
About Don Massenzio:
Don Massenzio was born in Syracuse, New York, to first generation Italian-American parents. He is an avid reader. Some of his favorite authors include Harlan Coben, David Morrell, Stephen King, and Hugh Howey. His favorite book of all time is ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’.
Don began writing as a way to combat the long hours of travel and numerous hotel stays that are part of the ‘glamorous’ world of corporate travel. He uses writing as a therapeutic outlet. He recently took the jump to sharing his work with others.
His first published long work is the novel, Frankly Speaking. It is the first of a series of books focused on the character, Frank Rozzani, a Florida private detective. The book is a throwback to the days of pulp detective novels with a tip of the hat to Jim Rockford from 70’s television and The Rockford Files.
The second Frank Rozzani detective novel, Let Me Be Frank is now available. His third book in the Frank Rozzani series was released on April 24th, 2015 and is available on Amazon.com in both Kindle and Paperback formats.
There are only two days left to download my free book, Random Tales. The stories cover genres that appeal to many readers. Here is a little bit about the four stories:
The book is absolutely free in the Amazon Kindle format this weekend, 1/22-1/24. After that I will be permanently pricing it at $.99. Why am I doing this? I think these stories are worth reading and I want to get them exposure. Also, for those of you that have not read my work, this is a great way to introduce you to my writing.
Please enjoy this free gift. You can download it here.
As always, your comments, questions, and feedback are welcome.
About Don Massenzio:
Don Massenzio was born in Syracuse, New York, to first generation Italian-American parents. He is an avid reader. Some of his favorite authors include Harlan Coben, David Morrell, Stephen King, and Hugh Howey. His favorite book of all time is ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’.
Don began writing as a way to combat the long hours of travel and numerous hotel stays that are part of the ‘glamorous’ world of corporate travel. He uses writing as a therapeutic outlet. He recently took the jump to sharing his work with others.
His first published long work is the novel, Frankly Speaking. It is the first of a series of books focused on the character, Frank Rozzani, a Florida private detective. The book is a throwback to the days of pulp detective novels with a tip of the hat to Jim Rockford from 70’s television and The Rockford Files.
The second Frank Rozzani detective novel, Let Me Be Frank is now available. His third book in the Frank Rozzani series was released on April 24th, 2015 and is available on Amazon.com in both Kindle and Paperback formats.
I’ve been leading up to today in my blogs this week. Today is the day to download your free copy of my book, Random Tales. It is a collection of short stories I’ve written over the past two years. The stories vary in style from paranormal/supernatural to historical fiction to mystery. There is something for everyone. Here is a synopsis of the stories:
The book is absolutely free in the Amazon Kindle format this weekend, 1/22-1/24. After that I will be permanently pricing it at $.99. Why am I doing this? I think these stories are worth reading and I want to get them exposure. Also, for those of you that have not read my work, this is a great way to introduce you to my writing.
Please enjoy this free gift. You can download it here.
As always, your comments, questions, and feedback are welcome.
About Don Massenzio:
Don Massenzio was born in Syracuse, New York, to first generation Italian-American parents. He is an avid reader. Some of his favorite authors include Harlan Coben, David Morrell, Stephen King, and Hugh Howey. His favorite book of all time is ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’.
Don began writing as a way to combat the long hours of travel and numerous hotel stays that are part of the ‘glamorous’ world of corporate travel. He uses writing as a therapeutic outlet. He recently took the jump to sharing his work with others.
His first published long work is the novel, Frankly Speaking. It is the first of a series of books focused on the character, Frank Rozzani, a Florida private detective. The book is a throwback to the days of pulp detective novels with a tip of the hat to Jim Rockford from 70’s television and The Rockford Files.
The second Frank Rozzani detective novel, Let Me Be Frank is now available. His third book in the Frank Rozzani series was released on April 24th, 2015 and is available on Amazon.com in both Kindle and Paperback formats.
Starting tomorrow, 1/22/16, I will be offering a free download of my short story collection, Random Tales, that will last through Sunday, 1/24/16. I enjoyed putting this collection together. Today, I am featuring the last story, Lucy’s Christmas Miracle.
I wrote this story completely on a flight from Atlanta to Boston. It was about a two hour flight in rough weather. It was inspired by the dog, Lucy, in my Frank Rozzani Detective Series books. It’s a light-hearted story about a child that goes missing and the events leading to locating her.
It was meant to be a quick tale to get readers interested in my books and as a special Christmas bonus to those who have read the books to whet their appetites for the third book.
I had written the dedication to my youngest daughter who is sometimes wise beyond her years. A freaky thing occurred when I asked my usual provider to create a cover for the story. It came back with a picture of a little girl being guided by a dog. I had to take a second look at the picture as the little girl has a strong resemblance to my daughter mentioned in the dedication. The designer has never met or even seen my daughter, so the coincidence was interesting.
I hope you enjoy this tale and the message that it brings about what is important in life.
Remember, you can pick up this story and the three others for free starting tomorrow, 1/22/16 on Amazon. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them.
About Don Massenzio:
Don Massenzio was born in Syracuse, New York, to first generation Italian-American parents. He is an avid reader. Some of his favorite authors include Harlan Coben, David Morrell, Stephen King, and Hugh Howey. His favorite book of all time is ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’.
Don began writing as a way to combat the long hours of travel and numerous hotel stays that are part of the ‘glamorous’ world of corporate travel. He uses writing as a therapeutic outlet. He recently took the jump to sharing his work with others.
His first published long work is the novel, Frankly Speaking. It is the first of a series of books focused on the character, Frank Rozzani, a Florida private detective. The book is a throwback to the days of pulp detective novels with a tip of the hat to Jim Rockford from 70’s television and The Rockford Files.
The second Frank Rozzani detective novel, Let Me Be Frank is now available. His third book in the Frank Rozzani series was released on April 24th, 2015 and is available on Amazon.com in both Kindle and Paperback formats.
Author Don Massenzio 