Five Ways to Meet New Readers. #Supernatural #Ghosthunter

Want more readers? If you're a novelist, author, self-pubber or writing enthusiast in search of more readers, I'd like to suggest a few things that are making a huge dent in my newly acquired readership. And when I say newly acquired, I'm talking about the last few weeks. Here are some great ways to reach out to new readers.

• Tweet the things you write about. Lately I've been tweeting more about ghosts and supernatural events, like "Have you seen a ghost? I have. What was your experience?" I've even started collecting ghost and supernatural experiences from my readers and friends. This has made for some very interesting, and scary conversations.

• Freebies. This isn't new around here but giving your book away is another tool to grow your reader cult. There is a really simple way to do this… KDP Select. But there are other ways. Some use coupon codes. I like to hand sell, walking around facebook and twitter and calling readers in my genre. "Anyone want to read an edge of your seat supernatural thriller? FREE to the first 10 who respond." Try it. You just might get a few extra reviews and you don't have to use a KDP "free promo".

• Being nice. If you're on twitter, how about "Mentioning" and "Retweeting" bibliophiles, avid readers, and/or other writers in your genre. This is a form of cross promotion and general niceness. Helping readers and writers grow there twitter following will come back to you. 

• Hootsuite.com. For many of you, this is already part of your tool chest, but there are those of you who have never heard of Hootsuite. This tool allows you to schedule tweets and manage all of your social media sites (Twitter and Facebook) from one page. Very handy. Only costs $5 a month and the first month is free to try.

• Tweetadder.com. The number one thing that has helped me grow my audience in the last two weeks is Tweetadder. Tweetadder.com offers an amazing tool for anyone interested in growing their twitter base, targeting an exact audience. With Tweetadder, I can piggy back off of popular authors in my genre. I can also meet readers who mention that they read about ghosts, the supernatural, or suspense thrillers in my genre. And it does so much more. This really is an amazing tool. It costs $74; a one time charge, including a lifetime of free updates. Very much worth the cost.

Speaking of free, TWISTED VENGEANCE and REUNION and KILLING THE GIANTS are free today. If you enjoy supernatural thrillers, I'd urge you to get a copy, read and review one or both of these books. I recently started writing book two of the Twisted series, so if you like it, there will be a follow up soon. And if you need help marketing your book or in general need help getting a handle on this indie author gig, get a copy of The Indie Author's Guide to the Universe; you won't regret it.

Jeff Bennington is the best-selling author of Reunion, Twisted Vengeance,  The Indie Author's Guide to the Universe and other thrillers.

Wanted: Two Indie Authors Who Want to Become Bestsellers.

If you're an independent author, and published on Amazon, I want to Talk to you.

I am going to experiment with two authors who've published no more than three titles, received rave reviews, but are still having trouble selling. If you fit that description, I want to teach you the principles in my forthcoming book, The Indie Author's Guide to the Universe, and help turn your ship around.

The book has 229 pages of motivation, encouragement, marketing, pricing, platform building strategies, and advice from over 20 bestselling independent authors like Blake Crouch, Scott Nicholson, Robert Bidinotto, Bob Mayer, Joanna Penn, and more. The principles I use in this book have helped me and a few other authors rise to Amazon's top 100 and I think they can help you, too.

I'm accepting two motivated authors who have published a book on Amazon in the last three to six months, and have ten to twenty reviews with no less than a 4-star rating. I will choose the authors with the highest ratings.

Here's what I am offering:

1. A free book cover makeover if needed. 
2. A free copy of my book, The Indie Author's Guide to the Universe.
3. A free over the phone training session after the participant reads the book.
4. Coaching through my marketing and pricing strategy.
5. We will enroll your book into KDP Select (if not already a member) and schedule a two to three day promotion that will utilize all of my marketing strategies.
6. I will give you a free "Twitterlicious" promotion through The Kindle Book Review, and participating book sites like digitalbooktoday.com, worldliterarycafe.com and pixel of ink.
7. I will take you through the same steps I suggest to get your book as close as possible to Amazon's Top 100.

Here's what you must do in return:

1. Agree to the above terms.
2. Follow ALL of my instructions to the "T".
3. Blog about your experience, journaling every step you take on your path to becoming a bestseller.
4. Link to my book when writing your blog posts.
5. Invest in one paid promotion ($139 to Kindle Nation Daily).
6. Write about the success of this experiment on your blog.

If this sounds like something you'd like to try, simply comment below. Leave your name, book title and link to your Amazon page. I am that confident that if your book is excellent, we can overcome the other obstacles and make you a bestseller. May the best author win!!! 

Please share and tweet about this. And be sure to follow The Writing Bomb blog if you haven't already.

Jeff Bennington is the author of Reunion, Creepy & Twisted Vengeance

Can You Bring Your Book Back From the Dead?

Does your book appear to be dead? Is it laying six feet under a pile of 100,000 other books or more?

If it is, there may be hope.

In the last few weeks I've worked with several authors whose books have been in the 100K zone and are now doing much better. Recently I consulted with author and Lawyer Laura Rizio. She is currently in trial on a big case against the Federal Reserve (imagine that), so she is very busy as you can imagine. Her novel, BLOOD MONEY was struggling. Her cover was in need of a face lift, and her book page was dull.

She had great reviews (19 with a 4.8-star rating) so the quality was there, but her cover screamed SELF-PUBLISHED AUTHOR. As a lawyer, she writes about what she knows, so the story has the strength of experience. But Laura's issues had more to do with a lack of information and experience in the publishing game.

When Laura contacted me, Blood Money was ranked over 100,000 in the Kindle store. I gave her a few recommendations, created a new cover, and convinced her to join KDP Select. One week later as of 7:16 a.m. EST, her book is ranked #4 in Amazon's free Kindle store, with the power of 20 great reviews backing her up. My political thriller, Killing the Giants, is close behind at #12.

Soren Petrek, author of Cold Lonely Courage, who recently hit the Top 100 paid in kindle said, "Cold Lonely Courage is #76 paid in Kindle #4 Historical and #19 in thrillers. Great work from the folks at The Kindle Book Review. I would encourage every Indie author to explore the great promotional services they offer. I plan to use TKBR for my other kindle books Patience County War and Angels Don't Die. Jeff Bennington designed the eye catching book cover for Angels. I love it!"

Al Boudreau, author of In Memory of Greed said, “Jeff Bennington has an understanding of the ebook business that truly impresses me. I've taken his advice and it has made a huge difference in my career as an author." Al's book is currently ranked in the 10K range, selling at $2.99, versus the 80-100,000K range (Amazon rank) where he was a few weeks ago.

So what's happening? What are these authors doing that has brought their books back to life?

First of all, they were all open to advice. They knew something wasn't working and they were willing to listen. Secondly, none of these authors are prideful. They were willing to drop their price, change their cover, and try something new. They were aware that they were doing something wrong and were willing to change.

My prediction is that Laura Rizio, if she continues following my advice will land in the top 100 paid as well. Her success has come because she wrote a great book and had it professionally edited. That was her smartest move. The advice I gave her does not compare to her skillful writing. That is, and always will be the bottom line to a writer's level of success.


It is my belief that if an author can write a compelling story, he has a greater chance of success, now more than ever, especially with Amazon's KDP promotional tools. As always, an author's success is partly due to luck, partly due to diligence, and partly do to his or her level of skill. But the combinations of all of the above are endless. So if a book has kicked the bucket, it's up to the author to discover the cause of death.

Is there any hope for bad writing and poor editing. Only if the writer is willing to try again. In that case, I recommend taking the book off the shelf, and hire a professional editor. However, if the plot is hot, and the writing crisp and fresh, a writer need only tweak a few details to get his or her book back on track. I call this literary CPR. All you have to do is breath and pump three times. If you can do that, you can bring your book back to life.

BTW, the principles I've taught these authors are in my forthcoming book, The Indie Author's Guide to the Universe. I also offer a consulting service. I can analyze your book, your author platform, and offer advice that can quite possibly change the course of your career. You just have to be willing to try something new. If you are wondering what your doing wrong, check out my author services page, I might be able to help you out. 

Be sure to support the authors listed above. They are very talented. Then sign up for my regular blog posts by email so you don't miss anything. BOOM!

An Excerpt from a Chapter of My Life

I've never been one to share the details of my life. I'm quiet. I'm shy. I tend to withdraw when life gets tense. If you met me for the first time, you'd never guess that. You'd never profile me as a serial thinker. In fact, I'm pretty good at acting dumb, while packing mental heat at the same time.

It's not the best way to live, bottled up feelings and all. I get that.

Today, I'm breaking the mold. I'm breaking the ice. I'm going to share with you what it's like to be me. I'm going to write an excerpt from my life.

To begin with, my wife and I have four children, ages 16, 14, 12, and 10 (3 boys and 1 girl). We have been married for almost twenty years and are still dating. I take her out twice a week. As you can imagine, my wife needs to have adult time. We both do. We home educate all four of our kids, including two other boys who we've sort of adopted. Our life, as you can imagine is full of odd smells, loud noises, wrestlemania and food… lots of food and dirty dishes.

My wife is an amazing person. She works extremely hard, is a wonderful teacher, mother and friend. She takes on the brunt of our craziness.

I, on the other hand, am a writer. My mind is occupied with a million dreams. I think of new ways to create characters and twisty tales and how to package those ideas into something coherent. I have two blogs to manage. I wake up in the night and jot down my nightmares, or write a blog post to relieve some of the mental pressure. Sometimes, if I wake up to get a drink, I'll pick up my phone and check my sales when I should be sleeping.

Pathetic.

Don't get me wrong, I make every effort to spend time with each of my kids every day, asking them questions and listening to them, putting my arm around them, and observing their growth and silly, sweet things that they say. But sometimes I let this writing thing, this platform building stuff get out of hand. Sometimes I think it's too much. Sometimes I want to unplug it all and never look back. On occasion, the best thing to do in this hectic writer life of mine is to just grab an xBox controller and play call of duty for a couple of hours with my 12-year old son.

If you're a writer working a day job, and you want to be involved with your family, I'm sure you understand the pull. It's very powerful. The force will wear you down if you let it. And to be honest, I'm teetering on the brink of to-the-bone wear down. I've been feeding The Kindle Book Review Miracle Grow, I just released Twisted Vengeance a month and a half ago, and I'm about to embark on the release of The Indie Author's Guide to the Universe. That's two books in two months.

That's too much.

I'm not complaining. I know what I'm doing. I manage my time and make every moment count, but doing so takes so much focus that it's physically and emotionally draining. Strange thing is, I think I thrive on the madness.

That's me. That's my life.

Now it's your turn.

Are you familiar with the insanity? If you're new to indie publishing, let me warn you; as rewarding as it can be, writing and everything that goes with it can consume you. Indie publishing has the potential to occupy your mind like moss on a fallen timber, slowly enveloping your mind until you and the soil below are one.

It's the nature of the beast. It's a mental thing. It's a monster thing.

Fortunately, writing blog posts like this remind me that I am the ruler of this animal, and why I've had this longstanding love affair with the trade. The beast is mine to control even when I've lost my grip of the leash. His teeth may sink into my flesh and begin tearing, but I can always break its neck with my words and a few quick strokes of my pen.

So there you go; I've bared my soul and spilled my guts. I'm weak. I'm faulted. I'm a writer.

~Jeff Bennington
Bestselling author of Reunion, Twisted Vengeance & Creepy
Look for my forthcoming non-fiction, The Indie Author's Guide to the Universe.

How Ghosts Have Helped My Writing Career

I am very proud to say that I have 3 ghost stories in Amazon's TOP 100 ghost category. What's even better, they are all in the top 20 at the time of this writing. A couple of weeks ago, Reunion held the #1 spot for over a week Twisted Vengeance and Creepy came close at different times. If you like ghost stories, they are all 99¢ right now.

In honor of this occasion, I'm going to post one of my ghost stories, which is also an excerpt from my soon to be released non-fiction, The Indie Author's Guide to the Universe. Enjoy the read.

How Ghosts Have Helped My Writing Career

“No tears in the writer. No tears in the reader.

No surprise in the writer. No surprise in the reader." ~Robert Frost,Sentiments of Blake Crouch, Best selling author of Abandon and Serial

The night crept upon me like a shadow. The house was quiet and I felt the need to listen to ELO, a pop culture group that dates me but that I'm proud to say I knew well. I slipped away from my family and headed downstairs where my oldest brother's turntable sat, crying out for me to spin a sheet of vinyl under its melodic needle.

I placed the album on the record player, gingerly avoiding discovery. If I had scratched any of my brother's albums, I would've surely died. I knew that. I had learned the hard way. I had the bruises to prove it.

Mr. Blue Sky started drumming hip quarter notes and I hid under big brother's bed, feet tucked into sticky cobwebs and my hands under my chin, basking in the glory of big bro's collection of soul food... music from the 70's and 80's. The room was dark of course; I had to keep a low profile less I be found out and quickly dragged outside where I'd receive a proper thumping.

Our home was a typical tri-level from the 70's. I lay at the bottom, the rear, the caboose, the small room in the basement on the backside with a convenient set of double doors that frequently allowed us boys to escape late in the night.

I was in keyboard heaven, loving the solitude, taking in the soul food.

My eyes adjusted to the darkness that filled the room and everything took on a navy-blue sheen.

Looking straight ahead, daydreaming, as usual, something caught my attention. The adjacent room had been vacant and black. No one had entered or exited for the twenty minutes or more that I had been down there… until the shadow moved.

I lifted my eyes to see a form step out of the darkness. A full-bodied figure silently walked in front me looking forward and then abruptly turned to the right, staring down at me. There were no eyes, no face, no teeth glimmering in the darkness. The figure was made of midnight and quiet as the morning. He took another step and his body faded into eternity.

I felt cold. My heart raced. I swallowed a lump of fear so thick I nearly choked.

The music continued, Mr. Blue Sky ended, followed by Turn to Stone, which I did. I shivered as if I had been dumped in a vat of ice. I waited to hear the figure call to me, to come back, but it didn't. It had already left my world.

I tried to make sense of what had happened. I tried to convince myself that it wasn't real. But I couldn't hide from the truth; I had seen a ghost; a real G-H-O-S-T. He appeared and vanished out of thin air, lost as it were, between where he should've been and where I lay.

The realization scared the bejeepers out of me and I bolted out from under the bed, rounded the corner and raced upstairs where big brother and mom and dad sat in the living room watching a re-run of Three's Company.

I plopped down on the couch next to my mom. The color returned to my skin, but my heart continued throbbing under my ribs. I never told a soul until recently. And now you are one of the privileged few.

• • •

Looking back on that day, I've concluded that experiences like this make writing enjoyable for me. Understanding fear allows me to communicate what my characters feel and in some way, what I have felt during the creepiest of circumstances. I have a firm belief that what we see with our eyes is not all there is.

There's more to this life than living and dying. There's more to this life than laughing and crying. If you don't believe me, ask anyone who's had the privilege of tasting the afterlife. There's dark and there's light. When I die I want to see the light. I don't think eternal darkness and wandering would be all that enjoyable.

All to say, it's no wonder I've chosen to write about the supernatural. Doesn't everyone see dead people? They're everywhere.

What do you see? What has inspired you? What gives you the chills? These are the things that you should write about. Just don’t start until after you’ve read this book. 

Thanks for reading. Follow The Bomb by email to stay up to date on the release of 

The Indie Author's Guide to the Universe. ~ Jeff Bennington