Rebelious rules by Kristina Gallo

Thinking about genres, my favorite is thriller and horror. Many readers will share my opinion. Excitement and adrenaline are elements of every horror story.  Recently I got review where the reader ask for a sequel. It was a big compliment for the book. I left the element of uncertainty, two characters have an unknown destiny. This is a material for writing more. As a little kid, I was watching many horror movies. Despite of fear, I would always watch more. Even when I got some nightmares, I still did not give up from horrors. What readers like : A feeling something is going on, that raise heartbeats. A feeling of risk. Something bothers you in real life, and you read about a risky adventure, a dangerous plot, and maybe it will motivate you to move on. An instinct of survival. Many risky situations will happen in your life, maybe the story will give you solution what you can do. Horror stories are fast read. Not dependable of number of pages in the story, the action is developing qu...

Selling books is the main thing that authors post on social media. Book fairs are essential places for traditional authors. Indie authors can't afford to sell there.  Social media are our space and we need to demonstrate our skills, and how to find as many readers as it is possible. To find readers, you must learn how to read between lines. You can get a thousand followers and more, but most interactions will fail.  If you want to engage with people on social media, you need to avoid these kinds of interactions: Fake promises. People who promise to read your book, delay and it never happens. Read for reading. I will read your book if you read mine. Conditions for reading in return are banned on Amazon. You can read other authors' books, but it must be your choice.  Good luck or I pray for your sales users. Those are people who wish to support you, but they don't click on your payment link. Those wishes are useless.  Spammers who use tarot cards, bitcoins, or nudity....

Speaking about books, today everyone wants to earn from indie authors. Many posts are about covers, editing, book formatting and blurbs, reviews, and promotions. Everything of this is important, a book must look good visually.  Did we forget talent?  How much is your talent important for your success? I can give examples of authors whose books look great visually. Everything is perfect for promotion, editing, covers, and blurbs. The book looks like it is from the library. When you start reading, you are disappointed. A boring story can't impress you. Now, does it help because the book looked good? In this condition, everyone could write and present himself as an author with a good budget. If you don't have talent, these good-looking books are similar to an ugly face covered with great makeup. Your books are filtered, but they are not worthy of attention. What makes a good story? This story must capture your attention and time. If you want to know what happens next, you will re...

Check out  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BGY24V84/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p2_i1 My book number 16 is online on Amazon. If you love thrillers, this is an opportunity for you. What makes this book special? People love stories about rich families. Where is a big money, there are secrets, dark mysteries, and bad characters. This story is threading Dario, a boy who went to the sea during the storm. He felt pressure because of his roots, and he risked his life. Nobody hear from him for ten years. His sister Klara has everything she wishes. A good look, education, social privileges, and a handsome fiance. She is connected with his brother and when he was gone she wants to know the reason for his vanishing. Sebastian, Klara's rich fiance is an opportunist. He is not poor, but he hates hard work. Hungry for adrenaline, he became attracted to his sexy boss Laura.  When a murder happens, everyone will be suspicious. What is a motive? Jealousy? Money? Or, this was a despera...

  In 2018, I published a book by the name "Seduce her with a fist." It is a short story based on a real event. A girl, Valentina remembers her old crush when she scrolls on internet profiles. Going back to the past, she remembers how he injured her. When I first time put a link for this book, some readers thought it is an erotic novel about fisting. Some rejected to read this, because of vulgar insinuation.  After I could not use Amazon ads because of this title, I decided to break this confusion and change the title. The message of this book is not to promote erotica, abuse, or violence. That is a book for all women who like hooligans.  Petar, the main character of this book is a football supporter who lost his teeth in a fight. He is using women for sex activities. Valentina saw something bigger in his personality and wanted to change him. The book is available at this link. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079VV5149/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i8

If you are a thriller author, you must be careful about your book covers. Using a knife in your background means you are supporting violence. But, what if it is a weapon of murder in your book? If you write about murder, you will not post flowers or kittens, don't you? If you are a romance or erotica author, you must be careful not to post nudity. A man with a naked torso in the background, what does it look like? I am not joking, we are talking about algorithms nowadays. You will not be aware if are you breaking the rules, and the community will alert you. The author will not be able to advertise the book if someone reports your post might be deleted because it offended someone's feelings. Do you know what is insulting my feelings? The fact we fought for the freedom of speech and after centuries of burning books and sacrifices, we got back in the Stone Age and in the arms of censorship. Let me write you one example. I had proofread of book and this was my sentence. "The f...

If you are the author or a reader, you will see the term KENP. KENP stands for Kindle Edition Normalised Pages. Amazon uses the process as the formula to calculate the number of ebook pages read by a Kindle Unlimited subscriber. For every page of your ebook that a reader reads, you earn royalties. Some readers have a membership in Kindle Unlimited. If you are their member, it means you can download books for free. Every time when you read your downloaded e-book, it will show in statistics, by the number of reading pages.  It is a good substitute for sale. For authors who have low sales, it would be good to have a higher rate of KENP read pages. That is not so simple, because it must count in thousands of pages to earn more.  How does it work? You can only earn page read royalties when you enroll your ebook in  Amazon KDP Select  to make it available on Kindle Unlimited (KU). However, when you enroll, you will have to agree to make your ebook exclusive to Amazon....

When you buy the book on Amazon, there is a deadline of 3-5 business days for your refund. So, if you don't like the product, if you think the book is poorly formatted or badly edited, you can ask to return your money. Everyone has a choice and the product is not always ideal. Some books are poorly formatted. Others are bad edited, or not edited at all. Sometimes, you will not like the cover or the title. Maybe a cover confused you about the genre. It looks like a horror, but..wait, it is fantasy or romance. What happens if the refund option is abused? The reader can buy a book, read it in 3 days and return his money. It is ridiculous if a book is 1.24 (like happened to me) and the reader asks for money back. If you think you can do something with this dollar, go ahead. Take care of your savings. The refund option is abused as a "free book " option. Do you want a free book this refund is a way to get it and return your money? To be clear, I can't make a profit of 1.24...

The book is done. It is published on Kindle and all you need is to sell it. That is the hardest part, because how to sell a book when millions of indie authors want to do the same? How to make your book visible? How to make your story jump out from others? I will mention seven ways I used to sell my books. It doesn't work the same way for everyone. Promoting your book on social media. Share your link on Twitter, Facebook, Tik Tok, Instagram, and Pinterest. You never know who will see it. It is recommended to make a good, professional cover because buyers will buy a product that looks like a real book from the library. Make a selfie or video with your book. People like videos, living images, and trailers, so do it on Tik Tok or Instagram to make your own marketing. You can do a paid promotion on professional sites for book sales. These promotions have variable costs, depending on genre, you can invest 10, 20, or 50 dollars to promote your book on their site and share it in their ...

Today I am featuring fantasy author Josephine Wrightson. Living in North Devon, in a beautiful rural cottage with her family. Hubby and two girls, there is much inspiration all around her. The rolling green hills and forests, but she is doubly lucky to have beautiful beaches and the tumultuous coastline near too. So many tales to tell, and plenty of inspiration all around her. Josephine has been writing for more years than she cares to admit to. Having started in her early 20’s, and before then reading so much. Anything and everything. However, as with many of us, life got in the way and encouragement was lacking, so her ambition got shelved, or more to the point packed into a case. After a strange couple of years, with the help and encouragement of a great husband and children, who Josephine admits to being her very own ‘hero ‘ decided to pick it up again, with a renewed vigor and determination. As life is very often too short. So being an indie publisher became her goal. And this ...

The biggest challenge for every indie author is to find his readers. When you promote yourself on social media, you will ask for readers and reviews. The important fact you will discover: every reader could be also a writer. Many people who read write their own books. That is the main reason why your reviews got late, why you did not get them, or why such readers expect you to read their book in return. The number of indie authors is huge. Everyone wishes to gain the success of Anne Todd, that published a story on Wattpad and become a bestseller, and late a movie trilogy.  Mostly, you will promote yourself to talk to people who are your potential readers. Here are the traps: Readers on Twitter. Many spammers will tell you: "I need a book recommendation", just to increase their number of followers. Promoters who expect you to pay. Give me your book, and I will promote you for a suitable price. Authors who also write books. So, where are our basic readers? The basic facts: Peop...

The average indie author doesn't earn much. He has a problem with selling books and usually, the sale is about 5 books per month.  On other hand, indie authors do many investments. You need to pay the editor, covers, and book promotion, and if you can't format the book alone, you will also pay for it. If you want to get a review, you will struggle to cooperate with other authors, read their books or talk mouth by mouth in the hope to sell something. The result is: you can't sell the book even to get small money, and especially, you can't earn from books enough to quit your regular job. The conclusion : You will spend more money than you earn. Most of your money will never get back. You will buy your own books. You will have a problem with selling paperback versions of books, these are the hardest to sell. What is the solution? You had a dream to sign your book in the local library, give autographs in public promotions, and people are standing in line to get your book. Y...

Jealousy and envy are followers of success. When you hear stories about friendships that broke because one friend is successful and the other did not manage, that is not a surprise. Marketing your book might lead you to some dark waters, where you can meet people who don't want your success. These categories you can meet: People who offer you to promote the book on their sites for a high price. You will just make your wallet empty. People who want your book free in exchange for a review. Many people will take a book, but you will not get a review. People who offer "favor for a favor" but there is a trap. You can read their book and they will never read yours. Trolls. Those people will rate your book with negative stars just to ruin your sales. You wonder, where is the cause, why this happens? It can explain by various reasons. Many people wish for success, and sabotaging their competition is their way to clean their path. Many people did not manage, so they wish the same ...

Do you want to write in the English language, but that is not your native language? Is it possible, to touch the magic stick and your imagination turn into reality? This is not fiction, nor a start of a fairy tale. This is a true story, about me and my books. In the year 2017, I got an email from my blog follower. She asked for a review on Amazon, for her first self-published book. I did not know that is possible to publish books on Amazon with a help of Kindle. She inspired me to try my idea, so I made a collection of my blog stories and published my first short book guide, "Lost in the virtual world." That is how my story begins. Since that, more than three years have passed, and I have 12 published books on Amazon. What I did do? I hired the editor. I paid for some covers. I found a reader's community. I got about 160 reviews on Amazon. I have read 100 books from indie authors for three years. I am a writer from Croatia. Writing in a language that is not my native lang...

Every author needs a review. We all know how hard is to find readers who will buy and review your books. Mostly, people expect an ARC copy for free to review your book. We have 3 groups of readers: They take a free book, and never review it. They take a free book and review it on Goodreads or Bookbub or a blog. They buy the book and leave Amazon reviews. As every author is dreaming about Amazon reviews, many will get disappointed and try to get satisfaction in Goodreads. Goodreads is a minefield. There is a big mess that needs admins and bans. Everyone can create a page and leave a one-star review on your book, just to underestimate authors. Some people go even so far as to ask for money for their reviews or blackmail you to rate you with one star if you don't pay them. If you are a Goodreads member, you can notice the "currently reading " option. You can hope someone is reading your book.  Well, about 10 people will mark your book as "to read" or "currentl...

  I decided to write a book in a series after I read reviews for part one, "The Seller of Sins". It inspired me to spread the word further. In first book, a married couple is described in detail, their stories are parallel, and the present and past are tangled. What made Karolina cheat, and what made Filip do the same, is explained in the first book. In the second book "Redemption", I made more details. The mysterious character, Blanka, deserves an explanation, as the end of part one was uncertain. Readers can interpret the story in different ways, to judge Filip or to judge Karolina. Karolina wanted a child, and Filip wanted to taste the life of a playboy, so their conflict was inevitable. Adriana is a new character who is moving the plot.  In the role of Karolina's virtual lover, Omer will get an important part in the second book. Now, their meeting is real, so they will have more possibilities. If you were judged by the community because you don't have a...

If you have a small business, you should invest in it. Nothing is for free, and the flower will not grow from the invisible seed.  This is the area I am still learning about. Where to promote your books and how much pay for them? Let's start with free services. If you ask a friend to review your book, he will do it, but is it objective? The more important question is, do you owe him a service for this? When you argue with a friend, will he delete his review and try to sabotage your work? Don't shit where you eat, so it is not smart to involve emotions in business. You never know if your friend really likes a book or it is just a friendship benefit. While you are still thinking about promoting your books, scammers will surround you like parasites and sharks. I have this problem daily. Different services and admins of promotional pages come to my social media and emails to offer their services and guarantee success for me. I have a common answer for all of them: If you were succe...

I was scrolling through profiles on Goodreads. Many of them look like trolls, they read about 200 books and rated them with 2 or 1 star.  Now, I am wondering, are those people just haters, do they throw books in the trash or is it something else behind this? As a reviewer, I always like to explain my choice. If I give a bad mark, I will tell you why I think so. I will never be a person who will just rate a book without explanation. Even worse, some people rate book on Amazon, you can't see who did it, there is just this one star, like an egg to your face. Tell me that my book is a piece of trash, it is boring and terrible, but don't be an invisible troll who is just bragging about numbers. You remind me of a kid who throws a rock at a neighbor's window and runs away before he finds out who did it.  To be objective, I don't like five stars rating without a review, too.  Someone wants to help me, but he did not read a book?  He did not buy a book but he brags it is exc...

  When the woman said NO, a man must stop his intimacy. Natalija said NO even though she fell in love with Denis, but he did not stop. This is a blurb of my new book. This is not a classical story about rape and revenge, this is a psychological analysis of the victim and her rapist. Natalija is spontaneous and naive, and Denis is a spoiled son raised in a rich family, he is the one who thinks the world is under his feet. His appetite will be bigger, but it is not enough to possess Natalija, he wants to earn money for her because she is the authentic victim.  Natalija's boyfriend Bruno is not someone who would protect her, he was not a man enough until he was pushed to the edge. His priority is his sister Maja, their parents died so he wants to be a father and brother at the same time. In these circumstances, he forgot about his girlfriend who needs attention and he turns her back.  Natalija stays alone, she is struggling for survival, and her appearance is her tool, she w...

  My book "The Seller of Sins" got a silver badge in the content of TCK Publishing, with 170 votes. Thanks to my followers and friends who voted for me, I got second place in the category of general fiction. My book is a mix of drama and erotica, filled with sarcasm. I wanted to write an unusual book about marriage that struggles with routine, misunderstanding, and dealbreakers.  Filip and Karolina are not a usual couple, they have different plans and they look in different directions, but they are staying together as long as there is a chance to make a progress. After some reviews, I decided to write a sequel, to polish my characters because some readers said the end was rushing.  My cover gave a hint, the background is tragedies, depression, and the impossibility to deal with life. What comes next, you will find out in February 2021.