Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween my dear readers. It's been a while, but I'm happy to say that Self Aware - Revenge of the Fallen (Book 2) was two months ahead of schedule - so I decided to release it on Halloween! (How appropriate! The timing couldn't have been better - it was just last week Negan introduced his bat to the world on the show The Walking Dead. No spoilers here - but the new season is upon us and I hope it's making your mouth water for zombies. If so - you're in luck - Stephanie and Britney are back and sassier than ever. It's taken me two years to finish that book and i'm glad that it's now available on Amazon.com. I love my books, just as much as you enjoy reading it. Although with every ending, comes a new beginning and my next book is going to take us into space, set in this day and age - in an action/thriller called The First Ones There. I'm really excited to start writing it and my goal is to have it done by Christmas next year. (Wish me luck!) As always - thank you for supporting my dream of writing and thank you for giving me your precious time by reading my words. I really hope you enjoy my latest work... it was a labor of love. :-)

#TheWaitIsOver

Steven W.

Memorial Day Weekend (Update)

It's been a while since I posted a blog update so I'm just chiming in to keep you guys up to date. I've been working full time at a job that is very interesting. No it's not a full time writing job, (I'm not there yet.), but I get to carry a gun with me everywhere I go. Contractually I'm not allowed to say who or where I work, so I'll let your imagination fill in the blanks.

As far as writing, I'm still aiming to complete Self Aware 2, by Christmas of this year. I'm the type of writer that plots out everything from start to finish on paper and then goes back to fill in the rest. This acts as a guide or map for me to follow, keeping me on track. Believe it or not, the characters do the talking. I just try to keep up and get their words all down. It's funny, when you type something someone says, you automatically hear a response, or in my case, see an action or reaction in my head, so I write what the other person did.

I've been doing an experiment ~ seeing how my book sales are doing with no marketing or advertising. The answer: Not good. That's good to know, because that tells me that while I am busy with work and writing, I need to focus some time on marketing and advertising. With more and more writers publishing books, competition for you, the reader, is getting harder. Especially since there was a report the other day from microsoft saying that goldfish now have a higher attention span than humans. (You can read more on that article here)

So much data and information passes in front of our eyes, almost every second of our day. We choose this, pick that, or buy this. Our attention bounces around, multi-tasking on all kinds of things. With people not buying my books - it's not personal, or that they suck, it's just that there's so many other things competing for you attention that if I don't actively engage you or let you know "Hey, here's a great ZOMBIE book you might want to read while you're waiting for the next season of the Walking Dead." How are you to know? Someone else, who's doing the same thing will let you know they have a book. Then all kinds of factors will come into play (book cover, description, price, if you looking for another book to read, etc.) that will make you make a choice (buy or skip to the next one.)

The important thing I take away from this, is that while yes, it's important for me to continue writing the best book I can for part two of Self Aware, I still need to try to compete for your attention. I will do my best to blog and tweet more in the upcoming months, as well as continue writing. For now, I ask you do me one favor... tomorrow (or today, depending on when you're reading this), will you take a few minutes out of your busy day and give thanks/appreciation to those who gave their lives in the name of freedom & liberty.

Memorial day is just a reminder, that great men and women, straight, gay, bisexual, lesbian, transgender and from all kinds of backgrounds & nationalities, gave their lives in service of our country, going as far back as our own Civil war, to the most recent conflicts. Lets give them thanks, even silently ~ if just for a moment in our everyday, busy lives...

Thanks!

 :-)

It's not the END of the book that matters...

Hello everyone, Sorry for the delay in blogging. Life has been busy for me with all kinds of interesting twists and turns for the better. I wanted to write about something I discovered on my journey as a writer.

One thing I learned is that you can fall in love with writing (and all the multi dimensions that go with it.) You can fall in love with creating the world, the characters, the conflict, the little details that make you stop and think "Where did that come from in my head?"

It's like turning on a faucet and letting the hose of creativity flow. If you want, you can put your thumb on it and watch it spray fast, you can hold it up and watch gravity make it flow like a gyser... there's so much you can do! What's not to love?

The hardest thing, for all writers, is making yourself sit down and write. So many distractions, so many excuses... but it's those who actually write (Pen to paper or press the keys on the keyboard) who are the true writers, because they are bringing words to life.

When you write, you are way ahead of all those wannabe's who dream of writing. You're putting words down, even if its a first draft, all writers have to go back and edit/polish their book. The most important thing is to get it out of your head and down on paper.

Right now I'm in the middle of writing a Zombie series called Self-Aware. It's about a woman who wakes up in a post apocalyptic world with a defective zombie virus that instead of destroying her, it's constantly regenerating her.

Still technically a Zombie, she remembers everything, she still feels and has emotions. Basically, Self-Aware, but every few days, she has to eat another human or the virus starts to break down, turning her into a regular Zombie.

I can't tell you how much I love writing this book. I love adding to the world, hearing the dialog come out as I type and seeing the characters react. It's almost like you're a director of a movie and you call the shots. If you don't like something, change it. Don't like someone? Kill them. There's so much you can do.

People keep asking me "When are you going to be finished with your book?" and I keep telling them "Soon..." but what I'm finding is that it's not the end of the book that matters, it's the joy and love in writing it that does. You can take forever as long as you keep writing because the more you write, the better you become.

Most importantly.... if it brings you joy... keep doing it. That's the greatest thing I've learned so far.

Writing is not about the end of the book, but the journey within.

:-)

2014: The Best Is Yet To Come

It's the new year and already 7 days into it, I discover what I've been looking for all this time... the secret to what every successful book and movie share in common... a formula!

Yes, there are patterns in everything and when you can see them, immulate them, you are almost guaranteed success! Because after all, all the other ones with the same pattern or formula have had similiar results so if 1+1 equals 2 regardless how you write it, then the answer is always a given. Success is a given!

Granted, I am aware there are other factors that come into play and the responsiblity as a writer still falls on me to create believable characters, write a proper sentence, know how to use proper grammar, etc. but now I have the support frame, the structure if you will, to write my books on the same level as those that came before me.

This is really exciting stuff for me. It's unlocking a new level in my writing which will only make my story telling even better. I'm looking forward to releasing my future books and hearing the reviews. I'm even hoping they will do really well. Heck, my goal is to sell 1000 books every month (minimum) so I can quit my day job as a security guard and stay home so I can write full time.

I love being a writer. It appeals to my creative side, it allows me to tell you, the reader a story. Now I will be able to tell you that on a level that matches the others that became best sellers.

2014 and beyond promises to be a wonderful year for my writing, and it was because of this recent discovery that I can now make my work stand out. (Sorry I can't tell you what it is (yet), but the answer is out there, if you look for it. It's taken me a few years to find it but I'm glad I did.) Now, the only thing left is for you to wait for my work to come out. Speaking of which, here is where I'm at...

I'm working on my Zombie novel - Self-Aware, polishing it and tweaking things as I see fit. It's taking what feels like forever but I hope to release it (or at least part of it) soon. If any of you would like to be a Beta Reader, let me know in the comment section below.

Well that's it for now. Here's to 2014... The best is still yet to come!  :-)

Try, try again... (New Book Cover)

This is the latest cover of my book - Anica Storm & The Wand of Time. I spent 16 hours drawing it from scratch and trying to make it relevant to my book. It includes the dual moons - Leo & Luna, James the Were-Dragon and Castle Alveydor. I don't have a lot of money to hire someone who knows what they're doing (yet) but until then, I'm trying to save a little money by doing it myself. My book hasn't gone anywhere in the last few months and it's not because it sucks, it could be because of the title or the description. I don't know. This book took me 3 years to make and I'm hoping it will take off but it's limping, even barely. It's not because the story sucks, those who read it love it so I don't know what to think or do. For now, this is my last ditch effort before I move on to other projects I'm working on and if those projects bring in more income then I'll revisit this and see if I can get some expert opinions on it.

I welcome your comments and feedback if you have constructive things to say.  :-)

Trending Sales (i.e. It's WORKING)

When I launched my first eBook Got Ghosts? Real Stories of Paranormal Activity - I had no idea what to expect. It was my first "test" and I pushed really hard to get it out so it would be there in time for Halloween. It sat for the whole month of October and it did pretty good.

I made $54 bucks for just having one book out with little marketing. After October, I figured the roller coaster ride would come to a stop and I would have little to no sales. I was wrong. I made about $75 bucks in November. Okay, still not convinced it's a trend. In December, I decided to be nice and give my book away for FREE on all days - CHRISTMAS & NEW YEARS.

Wait, WHA?

I know, I know. Believe it or not, even with me giving it away, I made $105 bucks in December.!!! I'm like WOW. So I decided to launch the follow up book - Got Ghosts 2 - More Stories of Real Paranormal Activity and now that it's almost the end of January, I can safely say I'm already at $214 bucks!!! Crazy huh?

However, my fantasy book - Anica Storm & The Wand of Time is stagnant. It's not moving at all. Nix, Nada. It's not that it sucks... it's just not attracting people to buy it. I've tweaked the description, the cover, the title, and the categories and it's just sitting there like an Anvil.

The target audience I'm aiming at (Teens) ~ the beta readers all LOVED it so this is teaching me a valuable lesson, even though I don't want to be learning this lesson (I want to be selling because I think this book has a lot of potential.) The lesson is...

PATIENCE.

I'm 5 months into this journey with 4 books out (soon to be 5) and my two Got Ghosts are on FIRE and my fantasy book is idle. I've read that some books will sit and collect dust until one day *BOOM* straight to the moon in sales. I've seen it with others so it maybe possible. I'm going to look into maybe hiring a professional cover artist for that book and maybe hire professional book description writers too. We'll see.

But the point of this blog is that this journey I'm on is starting to become a reality. It's working but I need to keep at it. I'm still dependent on my day job but hopefully I'll sell enough books that I can stay home and write for a living. Wouldn't that be nice.  :-)

If you're a fellow writer, like me, hang in there. It's going to take a lot of work. Keep chipping away at it, one day at a time. It's going to happen. I see the numbers. It's working. Every year, 80 MILLION people are born on this planet. There's enough demand for our books for all of us to share in the piece of the pie. Let my numbers inspire you.  :-)

Steven W.

The Journey Continues...

I'm happy to report a major milestone for me... Part 2 of The Journey of Anica Storm is released! It's funny that Anica Storm is still an unknown but I think in time it will take off. The fuse is lit, it's just slowly burning. This is good because it gives me time to work on the other parts. Part 3 of 3 still needs some tweaking and it will lead to BOOK 2 called Anica Storm and the Wand of Time.  :-)

If you're interested following the Journey, visit my author page to see my books:

www.amazon.com/author/stevenwolff

I'm also working on Got Ghosts 2 - More Real Stories of Paranormal Activity, this time adding commentary and information for anyone interested in the paranormal. Coming Soon!  :-)

Steven W. 

One of the greatest feelings...

Is to see people buying your book, almost on a daily basis. Amazon gives you a means to keep track of your sales whenever you want. It's been almost 3 months since I first launched my book Got Ghosts and for some reason people are buying it like crazy, even long after Halloween. I figured once Halloween came and went the sales would plummet. Instead, they are rocketing upwards. To put it into perspective...

I launched my book on Sept 19th, 2012 so there was about 2 weeks left in the month. Amazon gave me a check for $16 bucks for 8 sales.

Readers Note: Amazon pays you 2 months from the end of the month. Since I started late September, my first check for $16 bucks got deposited at the end of November, my October sales ~ I get paid end of Dec, etc. I sell my book at $2.99 ~ Amazon keeps .99 cents for every sale so I make about $2 bucks per sale. (Woo Hoo!)

For all the books I sold in October - Amazon will give me a check for $54 bucks

For all the books I sold in November - Amazon will give me a check for $104 bucks!

See a trend here?

I'm already at $50 bucks on the 15th of December.

I was debating if a book like that would sell and it looks like people like it. One way I can tell is that the Refunds section is left alone (no one asked Amazon for a refund - Yay!) Since I have a bunch of other emails that weren't released, I'm going to put them in a follow up book called Got Ghosts 2 - More stories of real paranormal activity. Since I'm a digital artist and photographer I can design my own book covers so this is going to be the official cover:

Pretty spiffy huh? I'm saving $200 to $500 bucks by doing it myself. However, unless your pretty good like me, a book cover can make or break your sales. For example, I have my second book out - The Journey of Anica Storm and it's not selling like I had hoped. It's either the description or the eBook cover that isn't sealing the deal so I went on www.fiverr.com and hired someone who has a BA in writing to write up a description for me. That will help. 

I'm also going to go do a specific photo shoot with my best friend so I can make a new cover for my Anica Storm book. The nice thing about eBooks is that you can tweak and change things all you want. So I'm not doing so hot on sales, I'm going to tweak a few things and guess what? If I'm right, I'm going to start noticing results. Right now, I'm at 5 sales for the month of December. So next time we speak, I hope to have some news for you. Until then...

Stay Crunchy, even in milk.

Steven W.

Twitter & Facebook Tips for Success...

If you're going to be using the social media tools like Twitter & Facebook - Don't look at every person you follow or link up with as people you're selling to.

What?!?

You heard me. Stay away from that! Instead, promote them and their works. Do a search for #Indie, #Authors, #YA Writers, #Writers, or whatever else. Find other authors and follow them. Send them a hello or at the very least a Thank You for following me. And from time to time, retweet their message or promote their book.

WAIT!?! WTH...

I know I know... you should be selling your book right and not wasting your energy on them.

But that's where the beauty of the genius comes in...

You see when you promote someone else, you're establishing good will. You're helping them. You're scoring brownie points. What if they are just starting out (like you) and boom they hit it big... guess who they are going to remember? You!

Okay - say they're not big yet, but they got several thousand followers. Guess what... they are probably going to return the favor. Hey everyone - Follow @Steven_Wolff - he's a great writer and his book got ghosts? is worth the read! Check it out!

Guess what? She just promoted you to 2000 of her followers! Talk about marketing! Especially if you have your twitter setup to go directly to your website or Amazon page and they want to buy your book! Let's say 1/4 of those 2000 like your book! That's 500 people who are going to tell their friends about you! "Guys, I just downloaded this book about real ghost stories!"

Hopefully you get my point. Maybe the person you promoted might even buy your book too and maybe the next big fan of yours! Now you've got 2001 people who will be listening when you tweet.

See... What goes around, comes around. Trust me, I'm banking on it.  :-)

Good luck!
Steven W.

100% of All Ebook Sales Goes To Helping A 5 Year Old Boy

Join Team Jaxon - A 5 year old boy who's fighting brain cancer. What makes this kid someone you want to help is that he's taking the money people give for him and he gives it directly to other kids fighting cancer. If that's not the definition of a hero, I don't know what is. So while I maybe a new author and I have only one book - I want to donate all 100% of my October sales to Jaxon. We both can't do it alone which is why there's strength in numbers. Promote this blog, share it, tweet it... let the world know that if they buy the book "Got Ghosts? Real Stories of Paranormal Activity" (Kindle is $2.99, Print is $4.37) that they'll get triple Karma points for the month of October! Who doesn't like Triple Karma Points? Jaxon is a nephew of a close friend of mine and he's fighting for his life. Please, pass this info on. Thanks!

Steven Wolff
Author - Got Ghosts?
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jaxond

Readers Note: Steven has dedicated his life and has given selflessly to others by working as a Nation Certified EMT (Medic), Volunteer Fire Fighter, Hospice Worker and has donated his time to feed the homeless. He believes in paying it forward in hopes of making this world a better place for all.