End of November Update

Hi all,

I haven’t been doing any reading lately, so I don’t have any reviews to share. Rather than let the rest of this month go by, I decided to talk about what I’ve been working on and what I’m planning to work on next.

First I’ll discuss A Bitter Winter news.

I have been running ads on the Amazon Marketing Services platform to garner book sales. As of this month, A Bitter Winter has outperformed both The Silver Ninja and Indoctrination combined. I was impressed and pleasantly surprised by these stats. But what’s more impressive is that the first two books are getting consistent downloads on Smashwords and Barnes and Noble; most likely because they’re free.

Still, it seems people really do like free stuff.

So why is A Bitter Winter performing better than the first two books? I have some theories below.

1.) Strong reviews. To date, A Bitter Winter has received numerous positive reviews from various readers. A review may not seem like a big deal, but when you’re an unknown author with a mysterious book, a review becomes a game changer. Good or bad, it doesn’t matter as long as people have something to say about the book.

2.) Paid ads. Placing ads on Amazon has tremendously improved my sales. If I had used the AMS for the original book, I probably could have made some of my money back. Although my sales took a hit over the holidays, I feel confident to continue buying ad space in the near future.

3.) Improved product description text and blurb. For A Bitter Winter, I literally spent months tweaking and refining the text. Once the reviews came in, I incorporated quotes into the description itself. Strategic use of bold text and paragraph spacing also makes it easier to persuade the reader into at least downloading a sample.

4.) Significantly improved quality of the book itself. Having a strong first two chapters has helped bring in readers who normally wouldn’t read my books. Unfortunately, I don’t know how many people downloaded sample chapters from Amazon, but I do know these chapters helped me convince a few book reviewers to take a chance.

What’s next for A Bitter Winter?

AMS ads were a success. The next step is to incorporate Facebook and Bookbub ads for next year.

Audiobook? Maybe, no definite plans yet. I’m in talks with a few women I want to narrate my book. Due to budgeting and the holidays, I’m in no rush to start this now.

Book 2 of The Silver Ninja is on hold. I’m tinkering with ideas for short stories, but there will be no full novel releases until my next project is completed.

Ongoing projects.

Although Cindy’s been benched, I do have a new project in the works. This next project is based during medieval times and is heavily inspired by the Castlevania and Legacy of Kain video games.

If you are familiar with those games, then you know I am talking about a vampire novel.

Wow, I am deafened by the cacophony of disappointed sighs. Hear me out before you pass judgment.

So we all know that vampires have a bad rap. Thanks to Twilight and Underworld, vampires and werewolves have developed a reputation for being sexy heart throbs. I blame Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise for starting the trend in Interview with a Vampire.

This novel is not going to be anything like that.

I am once again deafened by the sound of disappointed sighs. This time from the people who like falling in love with vampires.

Look, vampires and werewolves are scary. If someone’s coming into your house at night to eat you, you should be afraid.

Lost Pariah, (temp title) is about a young woman named Esdeline. She has been resurrected in the form of a vampire and now she hungers for blood. But Esdeline has a conscience and she doesn’t want to hurt innocent people for her own survival. Rather than give in to her beastial nature, Esdeline and her friends embark on a quest to cure herself of vampirism. Mixing elements of both horror and fantasy, Lost Pariah will make vampires and werewolves frightening again.

This project is currently in the pre-production outline phase. Due to the epic nature of the novel, I do not have an ETA on a release date. And considering how A Bitter Winter took me three years to write, I will not be giving an estimate either. Once the writing starts, I will update the website with more information and the book progress tracker.

That’s all the news I have for today. If you’d like to support me in my quest to become a full-time author, pick up a copy of The Silver Ninja: A Bitter Winter by clicking on the link below. Bye!

 

Buy A Bitter Winter

Book image for The Silver Ninja A Bitter Winter and the Kindle version.

 

Wilmar Luna

Wilmar Luna

Couldn't be a superhero in real life so he decided to write his own. When he's not creating empowered female characters he can be found watching films, reading books, and playing lots of video games. Buy his books here: https://www.thesilverninja.com/purchase/