What is a Stand Alone Series?

Everyone is familiar with the book series: Twight, Harry Potter, Pretty Little Liars, for example. These types of series involve the same set of characters, the same setting and often complete a story arc from book 1 to the final book. Some like Pretty Little Liars can go indefinitely but usually revolve around the lives of a set of characters introduced in the first book.

But there's a new kid on the series block. (Okay, I don't know if it's new, but it's fairly new to me.) The "series" that is basically stand alone books linked by overlapping characters and settings.

Some authors are finding huge success with this type of series. Belle Andre is probably the leader in this category, with her ongoing Sullivan family series. Each book features a new Sullivan family member and each is a complete story on its own. Belle Andre was recently interviewed by Bookbub and is worth reading (link).

Other authors finding success writing linking stand alone books are Melinda Leigh and her She Can Series(link) (romantic thriller/suspense), and Stephanie Perkins (Anna and the French Kiss).

More readers are turning to companion book series because they find they're suffering from series fatigue - a malady resulting from the recent onslaught of series and trilogies where one has to read on and on and on to get to the end of the story arc.

The other side of this is the stand-alone book, which can provide a quicker resolution to the story, but readers often loath saying good-bye to characters and new worlds they've spent several hours investing in.

The companion books series is a reasonable answer to both issues. Story arcs resolved without having to say goodbye completely.

This is a perfect scenario for me as a writer. I don't have what it takes to write an on-going series (believe me I've tried and three books for one story is the most I've got in me.) But I do like to spring board off of characters and settings I've already established, because I also get attached! :)

This is why I'm loving my new project so much. It's a series of stand alone books set in the singer-songwriter world, a world I'm familiar with after being married to one for almost 27 years.

So let me introduce THE MINSTREL SERIES.  And don't miss out on entering the contest at the end!

Sun & Moon by Lee Strauss

(Book One in the Minstrel Series)

Coming January 26th!

If you’re a fan of the movie Inside Llewyn Davis, ABC television’s Nashville or Colleen Hoover’s upcoming novel, "Maybe Someday", the Minstrel Series is for you!

The Minstrel Series is a collection of contemporary romance novels set in the singer/songwriter world. The books are companion novels, with shared settings and characters, but each are complete standalone stories with a HEA (happily ever after) and no cliffhangers!

She has a past. He has a secret.

Katja Stoltz is a risk-taking singer-songwriter hoping to make it in the indie music scene in Dresden, Germany. Micah Sturm's a brooding uptown banker on a quest.

Driven to the streets, Katja is picked up by Micah - but he doesn't want what she thinks he does.

There’s an undeniable attraction between them, a gravitational pull they both struggle to resist. Katja knows she mustn’t fall in love with this handsome enigma. There’s something dark lurking beneath the surface. He could be dangerous.

And even if her life isn’t on the line, her heart most definitely is.




*not erotica - no explicit sex or coarse language

This series is an exciting collaboration between Lee Strauss as an Indie Author and several very talented Indie Singer-Songwriters. Four original songs produced by Norm Strauss(link) are featured in Sun & Moon and are performed by award-winning Canadian singer-songwriter KimMcMechan(link). MP3 links are included at the end.

Check out the music video!





All the songs from the Minstrel Series can be found at Bandcamp (link)

The Minstrel Series also has its own Facebook page(link). Go Like it to follow all the upcoming Minstrel Series news!

Pre- orders now available at the pre-release price of 2.99! (price goes up after launch)

itunes | kobo | Barnes & Noble

Lee is giving away prizes to celebrate the upcoming launch of Sun & Moon. 

Enter to win a $50 Amazon gift card, MP3s of all four songs featured on Sun & Moon, and a 12 month calendar from Dresden, Germany featuring many of the settings found in Sun & Moon.

Dresden, Germany

a Rafflecopter giveaway

12 Things I Did to Launch My Last Book

12 Things I Did to Launch My Last Book
by Elle Strauss

 Launch time is busy time for an Indie Author because she has to make sure she's doing her best to get word out about her book. There's always the danger of becoming a spammer, so it's about figuring out the balance.

 I think most people are pretty forgiving when they know you're trying to let as many people as possible know about a new book, versus when an author goes on about their book for-evah, and doesn't talk about anything else except how you should buy their book.

 The other side of the coin is this is a business and people can't buy something they've never heard about. I recently launched the third and final book of the Perception Series - Contrition(link). For those of you who've never launch a book and hope to one day, here are some of the things I did to get word out.

1. posted Contrition on NetGalley and Goodreads
2. asked people who reviewed Perception and Volition if they'd like to read and review
3. did a book blitz with xpresso tours - a book blitz is when a bunch of book bloggers feature your book on or around the same day and you usually offer a contest to entice interest
4. arranged the above mentioned contest with Rafflecopter. Contests are a good way to gain new FB and twitter followers and also newsletter signees.
5. sent out a newsletter
6. bought ads with KND/bookgodzilla, Bookbub and Bookblast
7. asked for free ad placement with Digital Book Today for Perception
8. put Perception (book 1) free and Volition (book 2) on sale for .99
9. submitted Perception and Volition to POI  (They didn't get picked up. It's a crap shoot with POI.)
10. made photo teasers for Contrition
11. made book trailer for Perception(link)
12. let my Facebook fans and Twitter followers know by announcing the news myself and retweeting other peoples tweets about my book


Here's one of the photo teasers I posted for Contrition:

I squeezed my eyes tight, pushing back at the blackness. Oh, God. This couldn't be happening.

I smacked the floor. The woman had played me!
-Noah

I've launched several books now and all of my approaches have been different. Each book has its own need and niche, and current publishing environment. It's up to you as an Indie author to decide what will work best for your book. I hope I've given you a few new ideas.

Any questions?

Elle Strauss writes light and fun lower YA including the popular CLOCKWISE series. She also writes romantic mixed genres set in the past, present and future for YA and adult readers as LEE Strauss. Watch for her next book, a contemporary romance/family drama called EAST OF EDEN.

 Find her at www.ellestraussbooks.com

(A version of this post was originally posted on Elle's blog on September 20.)

Finishing Up Those Trilogies - Contrition Cover reveal!

The Perception Trilogy is my first real series, meaning the story begins in book one and doesn't complete until the end of book three. (My Clockwise series is unconventional that way, which is why I point this out.)

What a ride! It's a bittersweet to be closing in on the end. I've spent so much time getting to know and love my characters! It's kind of like having to wave good bye as your child leaves for college - it's good and necessary, but it marks a dramatic change. You're happy to see them develop and grow, but at the same time you can't help the tears that well up.

You find you make frequent trips to the baby albums, reminiscing on the growing up years. I began the first draft of Perception two and a half years ago, while on a trip to Romania. I'd meant to take a break from writing, but instead I started getting all these great ideas for a new sci/fi dystopian. Everywhere we went I'd be stopping to type in  quick notes on my iphone, and at night I wrote scenes on a borrowed laptop.

I published Perception on September 01, 2012, almost one year ago. Since then I've written and published book 2, Volition, and now in just a few short weeks, the final book.

Yes!

CONTRITION is releasing September 26th! Of course, there will be swag/contests/sales leading up to the launch. I hope you join in on the fun!

Without further ado....(drum role)....

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Zoe, Noah and the other plane crash survivors

 are stranded in the Arizona desert.

They all have secrets,

and reasons to hide.

But they’re not alone.

Cyborg soldiers.

War.

Humans and humanoids.

Who can be trusted?

Zoe’s life is in danger.

Noah must make an impossible choice.

Will their love survive their brokenness?

Will the world as they know it end before they can find out?

CONTRITION COMING SEPTEMBER 26th!

INDIE LIFE: Overwhelmed by Marketing and Promotion? I am! (and what to do about it)

INDIE LIFE
by Elle Strauss

You've written a great book, polished it up, got a cool cover.

Now what?

How do you get your baby into the hands of all those zillions of people dying to read it? They can't read something they've never heard about, right? How do you get your book in front of your readers?

I wish I had an easy answer. If you've been in the self-publishing world for any length of time (for me, it's been 1 year and 9 months, an eternity in self-publishing years), you'll know that the rules keep CHANGING. And I mean fast.

What worked last month  doesn't seem to work this month. Just when you think you have a handle on the "how to's" of promotion, it changes. It's enough to drive an indie author mad.

For instance last year I price matched Clockwise free. I let Pixel of Ink know, they picked it up right away, and voila, major sales push on the other Clockwise series books that lasted for months. Great! I thought. I'll I have to do is put the first book free, let POI know, and I'm rockin' it.

Except, it's not that easy to get picked up by POI anymore. In fact, it's quite hard. And you can't buy spots. It's a total crap shoot, now, and you can't count on it.

Also, at that time the Amazon monkeys tallied a free sale with the same weight as a paid sale. They've since changed it to 10 free downloads = one sale, which means it takes far more free downloads to get the same high speed traction as it did a year ago.

Like I said, change.

So, you put your ear to the wind. What is everyone else doing now. The clamor gets loud, quick.

Twitter, Facebook pages, google+, tumbler, pinterest, newsletters, giveaways, blog tours, street teams, paid advertising, teasers, picture teasers,  reviews, reviews, reviews! You must do it ALL!

Join me as I hide under my covers.

Okay, I'm going to give some practical advice.

1. Breathe
2. Give yourself plenty of time. There's a lot of pressure for indie-authors to produce and publish fast.
3. Realize that each book you write is different, and the publishing scene at the time of each release will be different.
4. Understand that some things take time, like building a twitter/facebook following and a newsletter list.
5. Don't panic.
6. Take a step back and make a list of things you feel you could/should do for the title in question and make a marketing/promo list. It will probably be different from the last book you promoted and different from the next one.
7. Work the list.
8. Take another breath and write the next book.

What kinds of things can be on your promo list?

Well, something that gets the word out, right?

1. Find early readers who will leave a review. Sometimes you might want to hire out, ie: a blog tour service, and other times you will want to take the time to contact book reviewers yourself. A good way to find book reviewers is to join a blog hop. Kathy at I Am a Reader, hosts a lot. If you want to hire a blog tour service, Giselle at Xpresso Tours, does a great job at organizing tours and cover reveals at reasonable prices. Reviews are especially important on Amazon.

2. Paid advertising. Lots of authors have had good results with Bookbub (though I've heard it's getting harder to book a spot) and Kindle Nation Daily/BookGodzilla. 
These kind of paid sites can be on the pricey side, plus you usually have to qualify with a certain rating and number of reviews.

A cheaper option is to pay for promotion on Facebook. You don't reach the same kind of numbers, but for the price (5-20.00), it's good exposure.

3. Let your followers know. As long as you mix your tweets, facebook posts, etc, up with other news, it's okay to tell people you have a new book for sale. They are following you (as an author) for a reason, right? Being part of a writing group really helps with this. When you post for each other, your reach grows exponentially. If you can't find one to join, then start one yourself!(link to Galley Cat)

4. Contests. An easy way to start is to offer a book on Goodreads (make sure you list your books there, even if you don't offer a contest). For the price of postage, you are getting word out about your book to a lot of potential new fans. This option is only available for books in print.

Use rafflecopter to offer prizes that will entice potential fans to follow you on twitter, facebook, etc, and sign up for a newsletter. Don't have a newsletter? I recommend Mail Chimp. It's pretty user friendly and free until you reach 2000 sign ups.

Those are the basics.

For more advanced advice on getting your book noticed, I recommend LET'S GET VISIBLE, by David Gaughran.

NEWSFLASH:
INdieReCon Marketing Mania is on right now! IndieReCon brings you a mini-marketing know-how blitz! Featuring articles and workshops from CJ Lyons, Georgia McBride, KP Simmons and Penny Sansevieri. Check it out!





How about you? Have you tried something that really worked for you? Please, do tell!

Elle Strauss writes fun, lower YA fiction (time-travel and fantasy). She's married with four children and divides her time between British Columbia, Canada, and Dresden, Germany. She also writes upper YA (historical and science fiction) as LEE Strauss. To find out more about Elle and her books check out her facebook page, and follow her on twitter. To find out about new releases sign up for her newsletter at www.ellestraussbooks.com .

Check out other Indie Life posts on the list below.