I’m trying out another Amazon US Giveaway. The only requirement is to follow me as a author. Click the link, and good luck!
https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/c83bdd2d706e21c5
Amazon.com #giveaway for Visions of Zarua #epicfantasy
5
Tag Archives: Visions of Zarua
#Kindle countdown deal continues – Visions of Zarua £1.99 #epicfantasy
This is the last day of my UK Kindle Countdown deal, so if you missed Visions of Zarua for 99p, you can still pick it up for £1.99 today.
Why not read a sample here
Or you can go direct to the Amazon page and see what others having been saying about my debut fantasy Amazon UK. There are more reviews on Amazon US and the book’s goodreads page.
I’ll keep this post short and sweet, but later I’ll be posting about my experience so far with KDP Select.
As ever please help me spread the word. And if you have read Visions of Zarua would you consider leaving a short review? These reviews are the best selling tool any author can have, so I appreciate your time helping me reach more readers.
Thank you and have a great weekend.
#Kindle Countdown Deal: Visions of Zarua 99p today only! #epicfantasy #fantasy
My first ever Kindle Countdown deal is live today in the UK. Why not pick up this standalone epic fantasy for 99p.
- Average Customer Review: 14 customer reviews
Visions of Zarua | dark sorcery with slithering secrets, 8 April 2016
Highly recommend for fantasy, magic and mystery fans!, 27 May 2016
brilliantly written fantasy, finished it and wanted more!, 7 July 2016
Two wizards, 350 years apart. Together they must save the realm of Paltria from Zarua’s dark past.
An ancient darkness haunts the realm of Paltria.
Apprentice wizard Paddren is plagued by visions of a city on the brink of annihilation. When his master Kalesh dies in mysterious circumstances, the Royal Order of Wizards refuses to investigate.
Helped by his childhood friend, the skilled tracker Varnia, and her lover Leyoch, Paddren vows to find the killer.
The investigation leads Paddren down a sinister path of assassins, secret sects and creatures conjured by blood magic. But he is guided by a connection with a wizard from centuries ago – a wizard whose history holds the key to the horror at the heart of the abandoned city of Zarua. Can Paddren decipher his visions in time to save the Paltrian people from the dark menace of Zarua’s past?
Please share and help me spread the word.
#Tuesdaybookblog – Visions of Zarua KDP Countdown Deal #epicfantasy #kindle
News Update
I’m running my first promotion since joining KDP Select. On Thursday 9th September, Visions of Zarua will be £0.99 in the UK. As part of the Kindle Countdown deal, it will then be £1.99 on 10th until returning to its usual price of £2.99 on 11th September.
It’s also available for free if you are a kindle unlimited subscriber.
Why not take a chance on this standalone epic fantasy that’s currently shortlisted in the Creative National Writing Competition 2016.
Here’s what a few reviewers have been saying;
Thrilling and dark fantasy novel that really keeps you gripped from beginning to end!, 27 Jan. 2016
brilliantly written fantasy, finished it and wanted more!, 7 July 2016
Wonderful 3-dimensional characters in an epic fantasy, 12 July 2016
A gripping fantasy with a strong premise and endearing characters, 16 July 2016
See all the reviews on Amazon UK
Blurb
Two wizards, 350 years apart. Together they must save the realm of Paltria from Zarua’s dark past.
An ancient darkness haunts the realm of Paltria.
Apprentice wizard Paddren is plagued by visions of a city on the brink of annihilation. When his master Kalesh dies in mysterious circumstances, the Royal Order of Wizards refuses to investigate.
Helped by his childhood friend, the skilled tracker Varnia, and her lover Leyoch, Paddren vows to find the killer.
The investigation leads Paddren down a sinister path of assassins, secret sects and creatures conjured by blood magic. But he is guided by a connection with a wizard from centuries ago – a wizard whose history holds the key to the horror at the heart of the abandoned city of Zarua. Can Paddren decipher his visions in time to save the Paltrian people from the dark menace of Zarua’s past?
***
This is an experiment and I’m interested to see if the KDP Select countdown deals have any impact on sales. Please help me spread the word.
I’ll blog about the results once I’ve finished working through the latest draft of The Lost Sentinel, my next book planned to be published late 2016 / early 2017.
#Tuesdaybookblog – Visions of Zarua is available via #KindleUnlimited #fantasy
When I first published Visions of Zarua I wanted to reach as many book markets as possible. So I published with Kindle and Smashwords (which covers markets like Kobo, iTunes, Nook).
However in the months since publication I’ve only sold half a dozen copies through these platforms via Smashwords. Even running various sales, and a half price sale throughout July has not helped. Kindle has produced much better results so I decided to unpublish with Smashwords and try out KDP Select.
It’s just gone live this morning, so I’ll give a progress report in a few months on how this is working. I’m really hoping it will boost sales and that having access to extra marketing opportunities will allow me to step back from my own efforts and finish my next book – I’m miles behind schedule for publishing this year!
I’m also looking at the option of an audiobook. It would be a very expensive audiobook to buy, but not for readers who are monthly subscribers to audible etc. I’ll update on this as I go along.
Maybe these new platforms will lead to bigger and better things. I’m keeping my fingers crossed!
In other news;
Visions of Zarua is still in the running for Mark Lawrence’s #SPFBO 2 (self published fantasy blog off). Some of the reviewers have already whittled down their list to a few, so I’m looking forward to seeing what happens in my group of 30 authors.
As September draws closer, I’m eagerly awaiting the results of the Creative National Writing competition. Visions of Zarua has been shortlisted and several prizes will be awarded. I have everything crossed hoping it gets placed amongst the winners.
***
I think I have just about exhausted all the marketing opportunities for indie authors – goodreads giveaways, blog tours etc. As much as I want to let go and focus on other projects, it’s hard to see Visions of Zarua disappear amongst the millions of other books available. Does anyone out there have any other marketing suggestions? Are there any avenues I’ve missed?
Visions of Zarua in a picture montage #epicfantasy #fantasy
I had such fun putting these photo quotes together for my blog tour. It took hours and lots of reworking to get them right.
Hope you’ve enjoyed this little recap from my blog tour. Links to all the reviews and interviews etc are on the Blog Tour page.
As always, here are the links to pick up your copy of Visions of Zarua, or to see what other reviewers have been saying.
5 days left to buy Visions of Zarua $2.00 #Smashwords #fantasy
For the whole month of July I’ve been running a 50% sale with Smashwords. 1000’s of books are discounted so it’s worth having a look at the sales page.
Here’s Visions book page. You just enter the code SSW50 and the discount will be applied. Smashwords is good for buying ebooks from different retailers / different formats i.e. kobo, nook, iTunes and of course kindle (mobi, pdf etc.).
For me, this is a last attempt to drum up some interest in Smashwords before I enrol in KDP Select. It will be interesting to see if the KDP scheme has any impact on sales, so I’ll keep you informed of my findings.
In the mean time, here’s the blurb…
Two wizards, 350 years apart. Together they must save the realm of Paltria from Zarua’s dark past.
An ancient darkness haunts the realm of Paltria.
Apprentice wizard Paddren is plagued by visions of a city on the brink of annihilation. When his master Kalesh dies in mysterious circumstances, the Royal Order of Wizards refuses to investigate.
Helped by his childhood friend, the skilled tracker Varnia, and her lover Leyoch, Paddren vows to find the killer.
The investigation leads Paddren down a sinister path of assassins, secret sects and creatures conjured by blood magic. But he is guided by a connection with a wizard from centuries ago – a wizard whose history holds the key to the horror at the heart of the abandoned city of Zarua. Can Paddren decipher his visions in time to save the Paltrian people from the dark menace of Zarua’s past?
Also available via
There are some brilliant reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. If you are intrigued, why not check those reviews and see what you think.
***
A quick question for all you indie authors out there, have you switched to KDP select and what do you think? Would you recommend it?
#WWWblogs – Goodreads Giveaway #Indie #Writers take advantage of free advertising
Are you self published? Have you tried a free goodreads giveaway?
Ok, it’s not free in the sense that you need to supply the paperback and pay the postage, but it is one of the best ways to reach people that actually read books.
I’ve run 3 giveaways for my novel Visions of Zarua. One over Christmas, one over Easter and this last one at the end of my first ever blog tour (see the blog tour page here in case you missed it).
This morning at 8am the competition closed and a winner was selected by Goodreads. I’m pleased to see the winner reads and reviews books, and I really hope they will enjoy Visions enough to consider reviewing it at some point in the future.
I was amazed that 1658 people entered in just two weeks. That’s 1658 people that have seen my book and wanted to win it! That’s my reason why the goodreads giveaways are so good for Indie authors.
Visions of Zarua is also marked as to-read by 1221 people.
I know these are just numbers and don’t equate to sales, but it’s really exciting to think that all these people have seen my book.
Poppy is ecstatic with the results.
(Note to the winner – Poppy’s cuddling my copy. Don’t worry, you have a brand new book being sent to you.)
My experience
Of my 3 giveaways, one winner did drop off of Goodreads completely and I don’t know if they even received the book. When postage costs more than £10, plus the cost of the book, it’s frustrating but that’s just the way it goes. I think it’s still worth the risk to get the book noticed by more people. I have yet to receive any reviews because of the giveaways, but maybe the winners will get around to it one day.
The only thing I would have done differently with this giveaway is the timing. I should have had the giveaway running throughout the blog tour, all that extra publicity missed! But marketing is a learning process and I hope my mistakes will help others as they begin their journey into self-publishing.
Do you have any tips to share?
Have you tried the goodreads giveaways and what did you think?
***
On another note – I won my first ever goodreads giveaway at the same time as someone won mine. I can’t wait to receive my free book ‘Late Summer in the Vineyard by Jo Thomas’ and you can be sure I will review it. Watch this space.
#SundayBlogShare – Less than 24 hours to win a paperback copy of Visions of Zarua #fantasy
There is less than 24 hours to go in this worldwide giveaway on goodreads. Almost 1300 people have entered so far and I’m gratified to see Visions on over 1000 people’s bookshelves!
If you’re not sure whether to enter, why not take a look at the reviews on Goodreads – average rating 4.42 (12 ratings / 11 reviews).
Enter the giveaway here.
There are also some great reviews on Amazon UK (average rating 4.5stars) & US (average rating 4.4 stars).
Plus the Smashwords discount is still running for 50% off ebook / kindle.
You may also want to check out my recent blog tour for Visions of Zarua. Reviews, Q&A and some picture quotes like this…
***
On a personal note, the kids have just broken up for the summer hols. It was a busy & emotional time, especially with my son leaving junior school, but he has taken it in his stride and can’t wait for Seniors in September.
I plan to be quite busy with them for the next few weeks, plus I’m still trying to finish my next book. I have a couple of posts lined up but then things may go quiet at my end. Please still leave comments and I will check back when I can.
Happy summer everyone.
Author Profile: Suzanne Rogerson #indieauthor #fantasy
I’m really pleased to share my interview over on Dan’s blog. Plus there’s links to my goodreads giveaway which ends soon.
***
One of the many privileges of this job is I get to showcase terrific author who have become friends. Today’s another one of those days. Meet Suzanne Rogerson, author of the new novel Visions …
Source: Author Profile: Suzanne Rogerson
Suzanne Rogerson Author 