Rebelious rules by Kristina Gallo

You wrote a book. Today is publishing day. Impatiently waiting, nervously expecting a miracle, every writer will watch his Kindle report. He will check every ten minutes if is there a noted sale.  How many sold books do you expect this month? Ten? Hundred? Thousand? Every indie author is faced with obstacles to book sales. Here are 7 kinds of obstacles: Competition. It means millions of other authors who want to reach the same score as you. Why should buyers buy your book? What makes you different from others? Tax system. Believe it or not, some countries have an impossible tax system for indie authors. They have no contract to avoid double taxes so guess who will get a smaller profit because of this law regulation? The indie author will pay 30% of his profit if he lives in a country with bad financial laws. Trolls. Negative people will try to ruin your sale with bad ratings or reviews, but unless the book is not rated with a mark of 3.00 incomplete rating, it will not affect the s...

If you are an indie author, you will do everything alone. Writing a book is an easier part. You will do promotion, editing, marketing, choosing cover creators, and your editor for a final manuscript. Indie authors are aware of this so they do the best they can to look professional.  There are some exceptions, those are people who are just starting or they are naturally egoistic so they think everyone will listen to their demands. What kind of mistakes do indie authors do in approaching their audience? Send private messages to unknown people.  Tag unknown people with their book links. They post above-pinned tweets of other authors their book links. They post under other authors' links their book links. Underestimate other authors, trying to make laugh at their work. Selling a book means you need to find a market. If you are lecturing others, you will not be popular. If you try to use others, it will come back to you. Here are three tricks that some indie authors use: Fake promi...

  I have a long TBR list. I made it by myself, nobody pushed me, even some people tried :) The point is, I support some people.  I support books I like, these deserve my attention. If I don't like a book, I will not review it. Recently I saw Goodreads deleted my 10 ratings. Even though I don't prefer Goodreads, I support this decision because ratings come from people who did not read my books. That leads me to the question: Why do some people rate books automatically, even if they did not read them? Do you think you are helping authors? No, you are spamming. I saw three profiles on Goodreads who did it around. My 12 books got a 5-star rating without explanation.  I feel the same as they got 1 star. Because I click on these profiles, I saw they rated over a thousand books with 5 stars, again, without explanations. I understand not everyone is a book lover. Some people want to seek attention, claiming they are reading books. They want to be present in the author's world....

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 ...

Today I am introducing an awesome indie author Eve Koguce. Her novel “Neglected Merge” - book one in the Neglected Merge trilogy - is a fantasy futuristic romance set in a utopian-style world.  She has  a confession to make. She doesn’t read fantasy. The main reason for that is that books in this genre tend to be rather grim, but since life has shown her all its faces, not only light and carefree, she seeks additional emotional stirring neither in literature nor in movies/TV series. The Neglected Merge trilogy explores the challenges of universal happiness rather than those hardships we envisage to befall us after some kind of apocalyptic event. Limitations are always suffocating, even if they’re intended to limit your choices to make you miserable. She has been in love with books for as long as she remembers. The typewriter her first attempts at writing had been made at still sits proudly on its shelf in the basement, and when she goes down there, she always has an urge to sa...

The basic rule of a relationship is the participation of both sides. When it comes to conversation, pay attention to who is sending messages first. If you are one who always asks your partner how is he and what can you do for him, and he is passive, then it is a one-sided relationship. The same rule is for friendship. Look at this situation. You are always remembering a friend's birthday. You are here to listen to her problems. If she needs a favor, she will run to you. What about you? How many dead plants are you watering? So, he is not answering, ignoring you, and then it comes to your feedback. "What is wrong? Are you angry? Why don't you talk to me?" Forcing your answer, you might get the next reaction: "Are you crazy? What do you want from me?" Or you might get a block. It took a long time that me to realize how not all people are the same. When I am leaving, I will explain my reasons. Some people prefer ghosting. They leave in silence and close their d...

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...