Indie Author Series: Pinterest (Getting It To Work For You)

My name is Suzy Turner and I'm a Pinaholic.
There, I said it.
Honestly... whenever I open my Pinterest page, I'm like a women obsessed. I can't seem to stop.
'Dinner's ready!'
'I'll be two minutes.'
'Our guests have arrived!'
'Okay, just give me two minutes...'
'I think I've broken my leg...'
'Okay babe... just give me two minutes...'
Alright, maybe I'm not quite that bad, but it is bad. Pinterest should come with a warning.
But seriously, if you're not on Pinterest, why the heck not? It's awesome. Especially if you're a writer and need a little inspiration. I have a few boards that are dedicated entirely to my series. For instance, check out my Raven Saga mood board and my Morgan Sisters mood board. Whenever I see a picture that reminds me of my books or of a person that would make a great character, I pin it to my book boards and then when I'm writing, I check in every once in a while, have a really good browse and it's like pinspiration has gone off in my head! (Did you see what I did there?!)
I also have more fun / personal boards like recipes, art work I love, gorgeous houses, decor, movie stars, etc. You can check it all out at http://pinterest.com/suzyturnerbooks
As far as marketing is concerned, I'm not sure if it works for me or not. I always pin my books (and trailers) when they become available, but it's tough to tell whether it leads to any sales.
What about you? Are you an avid Pinterest user? Share your profile pages below :)

Don't forget that I currently have THREE FREE books!! Yes, THREE!! Daisy Madigan's Paradise, The Ghost of Josiah Grimshaw and Raven. If you haven't got your copies, what are you waiting for?? And my next book (a chick lit novel) is due out soon. Read more about it here.

Now go check out my awesome buddies...

1. Laura A. H. Elliott
2. T. R. Graves, Author of The Warrior Series
3. Suzy Turner, author of The Raven Saga & The Morgan Sisters
4. Rachel Coles, author of Into The Ruins, geek mom blog
5. Gwenn Wright, author of Filter
6. Liz Long | Just another writer on the loose.
7. Ella James
8. Maureen Murrish
9. YA Sci Fi Author's Ramblings
10. A Little Bit of R&R
11. Melissa Pearl
12. Terah Edun - YA Fantasy
13. Author Cindy C Bennett

Indie Author Series: Twitter

I do love Twitter and I've currently got 5,933 followers. I follow everyone interesting (!) back, like fellow authors, book lovers, social networking experts, celebs I like, etc. However I won't follow anyone back that has no profile description or photo, because they're usually spammers or just people entering competitions and never interacting with anyone.
I use it to shout out about new book launches, blog posts and to RT other people's interesting tweets. I'm not one of those people who tweets religiously about my books. I see little point in doing that. I don't want to put people off and encourage them to unfollow me! I probably don't chat as much as I should, but I sometimes find it difficult to have a conversation with so few words. It's a fun social networking site though and there's always something fascinating to read!
What about you? Do you use Twitter much? Find me on Twitter, right here.

Don't forget that I currently have THREE FREE books!! Yes, THREE!! Daisy Madigan's Paradise, The Ghost of Josiah Grimshaw and Raven. If you haven't got your copies, what are you waiting for?? And my next book (a chick lit novel) is due out soon. Read more about it here.

Now go check out my awesome buddies...

1. Laura A. H. Elliott
2. T. R. Graves, Author of The Warrior Series
3. Suzy Turner, author of The Raven Saga & The Morgan Sisters
4. Rachel Coles, author of Into The Ruins, geek mom blog
5. Gwenn Wright, author of Filter
6. Liz Long | Just another writer on the loose.
7. Ella James
8. Maureen Murrish
9. YA Sci Fi Author's Ramblings
10. A Little Bit of R&R
11. Melissa Pearl
12. Terah Edun - YA Fantasy
13. Author Cindy C Bennett

Indie Author Series: Massive Indie Author Giveaway

I love giveaways. Both entering them and doing them myself. In fact I currently have an ongoing giveaway over at Goodreads where you could win a paperback copy of The Temporal Stone (it finishes on 31st August). Enter right here.
I think giveaways are a great way to become a little more known in the book world. For instance, when you run a Goodreads giveaway, all entrants must add the book they want to win to their 'To Read' list. How awesome is that? And currently I have 842 people who have entered the competition to win The Temporal Stone!
I frequently take part in giveaways, many on facebook that are being organised by book bloggers and other authors. And when they do them, my name is always mentioned - spreading the word even further. Basically, its a win-win situation, don't you think?
Anyhow, this week the Indie Author Series is doing a massive author giveaway. Yippee!! So come on and enter to win some fabulous books!! Whatcha waitin' for?!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now go check out my awesome buddies...

1. Laura A. H. Elliott

2. Bryna Butler, author Midnight Guardian series
3. T. R. Graves, Author of The Warrior Series 

4. Suzy Turner, author of The Raven Saga
5. Rachel Coles, author of Into The Ruins, geek mom blog 

6. K. C. Blake, author of Vampires Rule and Crushed
7. Gwenn Wright, author of Filter 

8. Liz Long | Just another writer on the loose.
9. Ella James 

10. Maureen Murrish
11. YA Sci Fi Author's Ramblings 

12. A Little Bit of R&R
13. Melissa Pearl 

14. Terah Edun - YA Fantasy
15. Heather Sutherlin - YA Fantasy 

16. Melika Dannese Lux, author of Corcitura and City of Lights
17. Author Cindy C Bennett

Indie Author Series: Blogging (Do's & Don'ts)

Okay, so I'm certainly no expert on this subject because I often find myself neglecting my blog - personal blog posts I mean. I quite often post book blasts, cover reveals and take part in other author's blog tours when I really ought to be posting more from me, you know?
So my blogging number one don't is - don't neglect your blog!
Number two, which I feel quite strongly about is - if you're a children's or YA author - don't post anything rude / erotica / swear words, etc because chances are your blog is being read by children as well as adults.
Number three - always try and put a little bit of yourself into every post. If someone new happens across your blog, you want them to stay, right? So show a little personality, give us a hint of who you really are. If you're funny, be funny; f you're a geek, be geeky; if you're quirky, be quirky (I love quirky and often wish I was the quirky girl but alas, it wasn't meant to be). When I worked as Assistant Editor for a local magazine, the editor made me take out all personality from my articles, to such an extent that they became boring (and were boring as hell to write), so when I was approached by a US Travel Magazine to write an article about the Algarve, I struggled at first. My first effort was so devoid of character that they had to send it back! They asked me to add personality. Can you imagine how embarrassing that was? All because the editor drummed it into me to be (basically) boring. Now I refuse to take my personality out of anything I write.
Number four - don't post exclusively about your books. Yes we get that you want to promote your work (and promote it you should), but c'mon, you're just going to bore us if you only do that. Be a bit more varied once in a while.
Number five (and this is just a personal irritation of mine) - get ride of those awful Captchas! I HATE them. I want to come over to your blog and I want to leave a comment but when I have to read something that is so stupidly illegible, and then I have to re-type it in five times to finally get it right, I'm gonna get so ticked off that I'm just gonna go without having left a comment. Captchas = Annoyance!!
So there you have it. My five blogging dos and don'ts. I'm sure there are lots more but I don't want to bore you (ha! there's my sixth - don't make your posts too long!).
In the meantime, don't forget that three of my books are FREE at the moment. So go grab a copy while you can! Raven, Daisy Madigan's Paradise, The Ghost of Josiah Grimshaw.

Now go check out my awesome buddies...

1. Laura A. H. Elliott 

2. Bryna Butler, author Midnight Guardian series
3. T. R. Graves, Author of The Warrior Series 

4. Suzy Turner, author of The Raven Saga
5. Rachel Coles, author of Into The Ruins, geek mom blog 

6. K. C. Blake, author of Vampires Rule and Crushed
7. Gwenn Wright, author of Filter 

8. Liz Long | Just another writer on the loose.
9. Ella James 

10. Maureen Murrish
11. YA Sci Fi Author's Ramblings 

12. A Little Bit of R&R
13. Melissa Pearl 

14. Terah Edun - YA Fantasy
15. Heather Sutherlin - YA Fantasy 

16. Melika Dannese Lux, author of Corcitura and City of Lights
17. Author Cindy C Bennett

Indie Author Series: Pricing our ebooks

Photo by EJP Photo via photopin cc 

Today, the YA Author Club is talking about how we decide to price our books - something that is crucial to gaining a good following. Personally, I prefer to keep my prices as low as possible so you'll find all my ebooks at $2.99 or less. In fact, I often make my books free. Currently, Raven, Daisy Madigan's Paradise AND The Ghost of Josiah Grimshaw are free. Its a great way to create interest and so far I've literally had tens of thousands of downloads.

I don't believe in over pricing. If you do, you just risk alienating yourself from potential readers. Considering my books are aimed at teenagers, I want that precise group to be able to afford my books, you know what I mean?

So what about you? What do you think about ebook prices? At what price level do you say 'no thanks'?

Check out the other YA authors in the club!

1. Laura A. H. Elliott author of Winnemucca & 13 on Halloween, Book 1 in the Teen Halloween Series
2. Bryna Butler, author Midnight Guardian series
3. Heather Self
4. T. R. Graves, Author of The Warrior Series
5. Suzy Turner, author of The Raven Saga
6. Cheri Schmidt, author of the Fateful Trilogy
7. Rachel Coles, author of Into The Ruins, geek mom blog
8. K. C. Blake, author of Vampires Rule and Crushed
9. Patti Larsen, The Hunted series and The Hayle Coven series
10. Amy Maurer Jones, Author of The Soul Quest Trilogy
11. Fisher Amelie, author of The Understorey
12. Gwenn Wright, author of Filter
13. Melissa Pearl, Author of The Time Spirit Trilogy
14. Heather M. White, author of The Destiny Saga
15. Courtney Cole Writes
16. Liz Long | Just another writer on the loose.
17. Ella James
18. Maureen Murrish
19. Valerie Sloan
20. YA Sci Fi Author's Ramblings
21. Terah Edun, author of Red Madrassa and An Amlah's Diary

Click here for more Indie News: