Do you find it difficult to ask for help?

Do you find it a challenge to ask people for help? Do you have to be able to do everything by yourself? Now let me share a little insight with you? People do actually like to help. I know... It was a revelation to me too. For some reason we think that we have to do everything alone, strive to demonstrate how great we are by 'going it alone.' The thing is - is it fun to go it alone? Erm no!

So what makes me  bring up this subject? Well it is something I noticed lately... When I first started writing books I was so proud that I had done it all by myself. Of course that is where my ego came in... I was 'so special' because I could write, design and edit. I made the cover, did the editing and basically created the whole bookie product alone. It was a great learning process; however, over time I realised that actually I wasn't the one who could do everything perfectly. I enjoyed writing a story; yet, working with an editor, an expert proof-reader, a proper designer and then audio producers was a far greater pleasure than going it alone. Everyone had developed their skills and was a specialist in what they did.  What's more, I realised that I liked my friends being involved in my creations. I asked them if they would like to give feedback or make honest reviews.  That is where I asked for help. I asked for honest feedback and for them to let others know about my new books. Also each one knew that it was not an expectation and I always gave them the option to say no.

In years gone by I would have never have done that. What is it that stops us asking? Is it because we think it is an inconvenience? Is it a sense of pride? What is the worst that can happen? Someone can say no and that it it! From that simple little step, I realised that I really liked helping others too. When people asked me for help I felt priviledged to be asked and to be able to give that help. There are even times when I actually ask people if they need help - imagine that taking place in current times. Of course there are people who take advantage and milk the need for help and that is when you have to be able to say no too. However, once you develop discernment and learn to work out who is genuine and who is not then it becomes a pleasure to help out.

So with this in mind, I would love to say a huge thanks to all of those who have helped me of late. It seems I didn't even need to ask because they all offered.

Enjoy my audio books at the following link:

http://www.audible.com/search/ref=a_hp_tseft?advsearchKeywords=Ruby+allure&filterby=field-keywords&x=0&y=0

AUDIO LINK: http://www.audible.com/pd/Kids/The-Hairy-Legged-Mystery-Audiobook/B01H2HF0XU/ref=a_search_c4_1_2_srTtl?qid=1471619538&sr=1-2

A fantasy fairy fiction novel for girls aged 8 and older...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Elora-One-Winged-Fairy-Last-Giggle-ebook/dp/B01KYHM1G4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1472123774&sr=8-1&keywords=Elora+the+one+winged+fairy

Away with the fairies or A way with the faeries?

I can quite honestly say that I never thought I would write about fairies. As lovely as they are, for me it was just not something that I would even consider. Now, I think I have mentioned about how ideas almost float around a person like a asteroids. Those idea asteroids float around a person's head until it is time to land. There are times when there are so many asteroids floating around a person that they find it difficult to concentrate because those pesky little blighters fight for attention because they want to be landed. I am sure you have all had those creative moment before sleep where you turn the light off, have an idea, write the idea down, turn the light off and so on.. I have even taken to writing in the dark. Bizarre? Erm yes!

Thinking about it, I feel I have to take this a step further. I think these asteroids (metaphor for ideas) may actually be intelligent. Yes, this is actually making me sound particularly away with the fairies. The reason I say this is because Elora, (sorry but I can't give away the rest of the title a it is top secret while it is being edited, proof read and the cover is being illustrated) literally would not leave me alone until she was written. Her name kept appearing in places and the name of the baddy literally played around my head until I wrote it down. I did my absolute best to ignore her; however, people started appearing with fairy tattoos and I kept hearing the word fairy... Oh - gosh - I sound so odd. The thing is these characters take form in the unconscious and they do what they can to get your attention.

There I am at work with a fairy asteroid vying for attention and wanting to be creatively landed. At the same time the baddy name is tormenting me as I am attempting to work on business analysis. In the end I sat back and thought - 'right I hear your name... now show me what you want me to create for a baddy!' No sooner as I had said that - the baddy arrived in reality. Honestly it was astounding how she literally turned up. My next meeting became a full analysis in note form of the lady who carried the baddy traits. She was phenomenal. Soooo phenomenal that I almost sat in a business meeting with my mouth open. Are you curious? Okay. Have you ever felt as though the life is being sucked out of you because someone is so miserable? In that business meeting people were sitting around a table and it was as if they were turning grey in her presence. The image of a hoover attached to their foreheads kept flashing up in my mind. I wrote and I wrote and I seriously wrote. She must have thought I was so dedicated to business analysis. Later on I had a chat with her and discovered a whole new level of pessimism. In the end I asked her if she had a comedian she liked. She didn't she didn't find anything funny; in fact laughter irritated her... Do you get where I am going with this? In the end she made it clear that life could not be fun, work was not fun and that misery was what she expected. Oh my goodness - the perfect piece of inspiration for my story. As much as she has since made me redundant (oh and don't be concerned about this because all is good) she has given me three months garden leave because of my access to the systems. What makes it all the more exciting is that I have managed to complete 3 more books in this time because I am writing full time at the moment and not allowed to start work until October! Life is beautiful and the fairy hauntings have resulted in me writing a book that I feel is so my fun, filled with laughter and considers what would happen if one cruel baddy turned the world to sorrow. So...  Away with the faires? Answer is yes. A way with the faeries? I think the faeries had a way with me and wanted a book written about them. Who knows about unseen forces and their plans?

Enjoy audio books at the following link:

http://www.audible.com/search/ref=a_hp_tseft?advsearchKeywords=Ruby+allure&filterby=field-keywords&x=0&y=0

THE HIARY-LEGGED MYSTERY ON AUDIBLE LINK: http://www.audible.com/pd/Kids/The-Hairy-Legged-Mystery-Audiobook/B01H2HF0XU/ref=a_search_c4_1_1_srTtl?qid=1468187800&sr=1-1#publisher-summary

How Much Do You Want It?

How much do you want it? That dream, that desire or that perfect job? What are you willing to do to put yourself on the line to get it? The reason I ask this is because a great friend came to visit me this week. She is a network spinal analysis chiropractor and at the age of thirty she has three full practices with a waiting list of three weeks for people to see her. As usual I am curious about people's approaches to life and I asked her what she considered made her so successful. Since she is rather humble, she was a little shy in her response; however, this is what she said:

You have to ask yourself how much you want that dream, that job, that ideal.
She then said you ask yourself how much work are you willing to do to achieve that goal.
What is the breaking point? The point where you say I have done my best and now it is time to walk away. When you know all that then you go for it full steam. Live fearlessly and jump right in.'
Finally she said a question she asks herself every day:  'how can I give more value with what I am doing.'
She then thoughtfully mentioned, 'the more value I give then the more I see the world around me transform. When I started out I had no patients and an empty practice. No one knew about me, however, I was determined to give every patient the best I could give in terms of network spinal analysis and in terms of life contribution. Something in this opened the world to me and I was recommended and word of mouth went around. I guess the passion I have for what I do combined with an authentic desire to be the catalyst to help people to wellness is the key.'

The woman is phenomenal and a truly great person. Of course this got me thinking about how much must we want something to jump the obstacles and stare that dream in the face when everything around us collapses. There have been times with the writing where I literally was like 'I can't do this anymore.' yet something compelled me to continue. I was discussing the fact that I had had hundreds of rejection letters over ten years with an audio-producer who recently produced The Hairy-Legged Mystery. She asked me what made me keep going. 'I was compelled to,' was my honest answer. After listening to my friend I came to the conclusion that the entrepreneur in me was called to action. I certainly wanted writing success and the entrepreneur decided to find other ways to put my work out in the world. In a time where there are so many digital options I came to the conclusion that yes you have to want that dream. You also have to be open to new and different ways to achieve that dream. There are so many people with knowledge who have already succeeded who you can ask and there is plenty of opportunity. It is through asking other people and enlisting their skills that my writing earned an income. It took around twelve years of constant persistence and plenty of failures to arrive at a place where it all slotted into place. Books sell by themselves and one gives value by sharing insights. Sometimes, and we have all been there, when you want to say 'I am done' - that is when you learn how much you really want that dream. So may people reach that point and make a decision and say 'one last try.' That last try is what often delivers success because when you look back you realise how much you really wanted it.

Enjoy my audio books at the following link:

http://www.audible.com/search/ref=a_hp_tseft?advsearchKeywords=Ruby+allure&filterby=field-keywords&x=0&y=0

BUY this laugh out loud kiss and email romantic comedy now and discover some truly startling dating escapades! You will love it!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/LOVE-HUNT-Dating-Romantic-Comedy-ebook/dp/B00ATF8QF2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1471332744&sr=8-2&keywords=Ruby+Allure

Change your Book Cover and Increase Your Sales?

Change Your Book Cover and Increase Your Sales?

Can changing the cover of your book really increase sales? Well the last couple of weeks I have been a little quiet on the blogging front because I have been concentrating on finishing my current book and marketing my other books. I had a rather lovely synchronicity whereby my friend had figured out how to market his company's health products to the world. In doing so he managed to completely wipe out all of their stock. What a success story eh? So after excelling at that marketing challenge, he decided he would like to see whether his formula worked on books. Yep and you guessed it - I am the experiment. I do like being an experiment in marketing - especially when it my money being invested rather than the budgeting resource of a company.

So how we went about it was go to Amazon Ad Sense. We created an advertising campaign using my top selling book. We started the campaign and registered the number of impressions according to key words. We then counted how many clicks are made on a key word and which key words generated the most clicks. Take for example my LOVE HUNT - The Love Game. This was listed under romance, contemporary romance, love, dating etc. All these key words are linked to your book and when a book in your genre is being looked at, yours joins a queue to be listed as relevant. When your book is noticed and the customer clicks on your book, that is when you are charged a small fee. The fee is based on a bidding process. In actual fact it is all quite simple: basically every time your advert is clicked upon you are charged. You can set an advertising budget each day which once it is reached your advert will no longer appear. That means you can invest as little as a few dollars each day to advertise your books to a specific target audience, according to your key words. In the case of LOVE HUNT - THE LOVE GAME - the most impressions and clicks were made by those who were looking up romance or contemporary romance.  The romance market is huge and one of the most popular so it was not a surprise that this was the 'big clicker!'

So how does this relate to a change of cover?
Well there has to be a reason that a customer potentially clicks on your book. What makes your book stand out against the others that are lined up to advertise at that very same customer? Well it is the cover and the 'strap line.' So I have to be honest my click rate was failing dismally. After 32,000 impressions, where customers had my book appear on the page, I had a whole - are you ready for this - 9 clicks! They did not result in sales. So I was affectively advertising and getting no response. Boooo!

Admittedly it takes time for a sales campaign to kick in; however, something has to make the 'customer' want it now. People don't have time to return to a book they might have seen briefly and they certainly don't retain the title unless it is astounding! So what do you do? You make a cover which screams click on me. So here is my 'before' cover - I quite liked this one... 

I thought it was clean, quirky and to the point. According to my marketing pal it needed to appeal to the 'romance market' and stand out as fun, mischievous and girly. Hmmmm!
So this is the new cover:

Yes it is very pink!!!! Very, very pink! The thing is I then had to change the second in the series too from:

I really liked this one too. I liked how clean it was...
So this then was changed to:

Again - it is VERY PINK!

So guess what happened? The number of impressions continued at the same rate and the click rate increased. What do you think happened with the sales? There was a gradual increase. So what did that mean? Well, it meant that my blurb had to change. I know... Something was stopping people going 'yeh! now! Now and NOW!' Also my friend said that the reader wanted to discover something: an insight.

So take a look - this is how it was:

Come on admit it - as much as we deny it - we ladies like a good love hunt.
We have tick lists, ideals, and we hunt in high-heeled packs. Of course, we're all hunting for that elusive right man who ticks every box and even has tidy nostril hair. Okay maybe not you, but you know other ladies who love the hunt.

Well, it's time for Eva and Gracie to love hunt, and their 'targets' are rich men - the golden sperm. Such exciting escapades would provide the pair with entertaining discussions during their dull office hours - or so they thought. What they did not anticipate was the discovery of the "booby man"; humorous but very hard truths about wealth, themselves, power; and the RichIdiot.com phenomenon.
The question remains: can love really be hunted?

THIS IS THE NEW VERSION

LOVE HUNT - Dating Game: A Kiss and Email Romantic Comedy

Did you know there are numerous secret female dating discussions taking place in your office? Discover the hidden world of women hunting rich men in hope of escaping office drudgery. All around you your colleagues are gossiping about their dating adventures whilst pretending to work. This laugh out loud romantic comedy reveals numerous dating disasters, female analysis and an insight into the world of ridiculous dating rituals - all of that in hope of finding that Mr Right. Does he really exist?

This and more from Eva, the Russian gold digger, who reveals a world of high-class meals and luxurious lingerie. While Gracie, the straight-laced female analyst demonstrates how the mind can run riot with random thoughts: what about the grey-knicker women who have settled for the men with sheds? Are they happy? Why are their knickers grey? Why choose a man with a shed?
A laugh out loud conversation in the form of emails about life, hide the sausage and dating blooming disasters! Be astounded by what is discussed during nine to five!

___________________

So what do you think happened? Honestly I have no clue how life works....

Well the audio sales went up! Admittedly Helen is a fantastic narrator and her Russian accent is brilliant, I just have not quite figured out how that has worked. Also what is also interesting is there is a higher level of sales in the U.K. than the U.S.

My friend Matt says that is because the U.K. has 11 5 star reviews whereas the U.S. have not been placing so many reviews. Again I wonder why that is. So in answer to the question - Can changing your cover increase your sales? Most definitely; however, there are other factors such as 'strap line and your blurb.' If you manage to combine the perfect formula then you have a potentially winning advertising campaign! YEY!!!!

Good luck. I hope this helps all the other lovely authors out there who are also attempting to figure the marketing puzzle out. If I find out anything else I will definitely share. If you have any comments or findings please could you add them to the comments. I would love other authors to have an easier journey to making a living from the book market!

LINK TO KINDLE:

LOVE HUNT - Dating Game: A Kiss and Email Romantic Comedy
by Ruby Allure  LINK: https://amzn.com/B00ATF8QF2

LINK TO AUDIO :https://www.amazon.co.uk/Love-Hunt-Dating-Game-Idiot/dp/B015G4GAIU/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1470326107&sr=8-2

Oh and I just worked out why the audio sales went up - the audio is on at £3.99 rather than £15.69

If I had not written this blog I would never have figured it out. So that is why the audio sales increased because the advert worked - the customer just happened to explore further. The only problem now is how do I change the audio cover? Any ideas?

What is your next 'WOW'?

What is your next Wow?

When was the last time you had that feeling of 'wow'? An eruption of wowness from within? You may think really wows and wowing is for those people who just can't control themselves... Well a decent WOW and a woop can lift a person to heady heights of joy.

So why do I write this? I had a bit of a moment the other day while I was quietly watching the world on their mobile phones. Where I live there is a beautiful pier and on the pier there has been numerous people strolling along glued to their mobile phones. People were walking along silently staring at screens as though searching for something. They would all gather in groups and not talk to each other and stare at the screen, as if waiting for something to happen. Then when that something did happen they smiled for a small moment and then strolled back down the pier with eyes fixed on their mobile screens. They then appeared to be searching for something else. It was quite a bemusing spectacle really. I wondered whether it was a one off incident so went down a number of days in a row. The same thing happened: clusters of people staring at their mobile screen. They arrived at a certain point, smiled and went on 'hunting'.

So how does this relate to the WOW? Well there was a quiet moment and a group of young chaps came along, all hunting - they were probably around 12 or 13. They all arrived at the same area and stared at their screen. Something happened and one shouted 'Wow!' He got so excited that he started to jump up and down. He literally couldn't contain himself. He had found something and it made him leap in the air. The other three chaps looked at him as if he was uncool. However, this rebellious little 'wower!' Just kept being excited. 'That was the coolest one yet!' he cried with a little dance. The cool kids began to chuckle and shake their heads. Guess what happened? They all started to 'wow' and laugh.

The group noticed me watching and smiling and calmed their wowing.
'It is fantastic to see a public display of wow! So what are you wowing about? There have been loads of people strolling along staring at phones and then stopping, smiling and turning around.'
The group glanced at each other as if to consider 'stranger danger'. Finally the lead wower came over and showed me his phone. It turned out they were on a 'treasure hunt' for some creature from a game on their phone. When they found the creature it exploded. There were different kinds of creature explosions and this particular one had created an almighty WOW opportunity.

Anyway the group shuffled and I asked the lead wower, 'do you wow often?' He looked at me curiously. 'I come down here a lot and you did a blooming good wow! You showed your excitement and got others involved in your wow!' It was fantastic to watch.'

He shrugged and glanced at the others.
'He always gets excited and wows,' said one of the other guys.
'Some people think he is weird.'
'Why?'
'Because he is always so happy and excited.'
'Isn't that a good thing?'
The group shuffled, 's'pose so.'

I studied the group and decided to say something rather deep to teenagers. 'If the world did not have anyone who wowed then what would happen?'
'There would be no wowing.'
'Did you notice that a decent wow created joy and you all laughed?'
The group nodded.
'If you can find something to 'wow' about every day then you really can live a good life. The bigger the wow the better I say.'
I turned to the lead wower, 'Thank you so much for that WOW! I needed to be reminded to find my wow in each day!'

With that in mind, what is you next WOW? Will you allow yourself to WOW wholeheartedly? What is the limit to your wow? When is the best time to super wow!

THE HIARY-LEGGED MYSTERY ON AUDIBLE LINK: http://www.audible.com/pd/Kids/The-Hairy-Legged-Mystery-Audiobook/B01H2HF0XU/ref=a_search_c4_1_1_srTtl?qid=1468187800&sr=1-1#publisher-summary

Enjoy my books at the following link:

http://www.audible.com/search/ref=a_hp_tseft?advsearchKeywords=Ruby+allure&filterby=field-keywords&x=0&y=0