Just wanted to share some fantastic news! All of my copies of 1st editions of Fortune’s Wing and Valentine are officially SOLD OUT! GONE! FINITO! I am so excited about this, because it means I can start fresh with the new editions I published via Amazon’s Create Space. SO, the Xlibris editions are finally gone. All orders will be fulfilled this week, so thanks again!!!
woolastonentertainment.com
I love that moment when Amazon recommends my own book to me….
Welcome to a special edition of the Monday Blog! This week, guest blogger Ebunnygirl will be posting one of her WordPress blogs. Please enjoy, and you can find more of her posts on her WordPress page, https://ebunnygirl.wordpress.com/
Nicole Woolaston’s Spin-offs Are Worth Reading
I’ve never been a huge fan of spin-offs. Sometimes you find a really good TV show or book, and then someone decides to take a character or idea from it and create a second show or write a second book. The spin-off usually stinks. For example, I love the show “Criminal Minds”, but “Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior” kinda sucked.
As I have mentioned before, I’m a fan of indie authors, especially Nicole Woolaston. She’s the author of the Fortune’s Wing series, the Valentine series, and the Our Lady of Righteous Rage series. BTW: I am not being compensated in any way, to post any of this. Woolaston’s books are unique, and completely different from any other books I’ve read. Once you pick one up and start reading, you’re going to have a hard time putting it down. I’ve read Valentine, and it’s one of my favorite books. When I discovered Woolaston was publishing a series of companion books for the Valentine series, I became curious. Normally, when I give a spin-off a try, I end up being uninterested and disappointed. But that wasn’t the case with the Valentine Apart series.
The Valentine Apart series focuses on characters APART from Valentine (the lead character) herself. The first is Allan and Mac, which is about the brother and sister duo who work as hitmen. It is HYSTERICAL! The casual conversations that take place between Allan and Mac when they’re in the middle of doing their job, are brilliant. Next, is Her Name is Lola Vencent, which give details about Lola’s life before she started working for John Rafferty, the primary villain in the Valentine series. Jo Fuentes: The Black Queen talks about one of my favorite characters, Jo Fuentes. She’s the Marine turned hitwoman from the regular series.
What makes these books so good, is the way they’re written. You can read them as companion books to the Valentine series, or you can read them separate and apart. The end of each book, however, ties into the regular series with such ease. If you’ve read the regular series (as I have) you find yourself thinking, Oh, I know what this is! I remember that scene from one of the other books!
The companion books in the Our Lady of Righteous Rage series work the same way. You can read them along with the regular series, or read them alone. And, much like the Valentine Apart books, the stories and endings tie into the books from the regular series.
I think one of the reasons Woolaston’s spin-offs are so entertaining, is the way she chooses particular characters to focus on. Allan, Mac, Lola and Jo from Valentine were excellent choices for stand-alone books. Erin, Dee and Jon from Our Lady of Righteous Rage are characters we didn’t know a lot about, but their personal stories were interesting enough to make for good reading. The author is currently writing two more Valentine Apart books, and is planning to write another Our Lady book as well. I’m looking forward to reading all of them. If you’ve never read Woolaston’s books, you really should pick one up.
Nicole Woolaston can be found here on WordPress and on her website, www.woolastonentertainment.com
Thank you to Ebunnygirl for providing this week’s post!
When you’re an indie author, or a business owner (or both), you spend a lot of time promoting your product, website, service, or whatever. Promoting can be time consuming. The time I spend, posting on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, etc, is time I’d rather spend writing. However, its necessary, and it does work. Facebook posts and tweets help me drive traffic to my website, which creates awareness of me and my books, which leads to sales, via Amazon or my online store. But, like I said, creating all of those posts is time consuming. I recently stumbled upon a feature on Facebook which I have found to be extremely helpful.
I’m on Facebook Messenger, and Messenger frequently sends me info about tips to use for my business Facebook page. Normally, I ignore most of these tips, because I am bombarded by messages on Messenger, 24/7. There was one tip that caught my attention: Scheduling a post. It had never occurred to me, to SCHEDULE some of my posts. I decided to give it a try, and sat down and created five posts, and scheduled them to be posted at different times on a given day. I checked my page later on, to see if all of my posts had been posted, and they had, on time. I have to admit, this lifted a small weight off of my shoulders. I could create content for my page in one sitting, and choose when I wanted it to appear on the page. I didn’t have to worry about whether or not I had posted enough content on a particular day, throughout the day. This gave me time to focus on other things, such as writing and editing my next round of books.
Some of you are probably aware of this, but it was new to me. If you haven’t tried it, give it a shot. And it’s very simple: when you create a post, instead of clicking on POST, click the arrow next to the word “post”, and select “schedule” from the drop-down menu. Or, create a post, and select “post options” at the bottom of your post. Click on the arrow next to “now”, then click “schedule”. From there, you can choose a specific date and time for the post to appear. As a side note, I’d recommend scheduling your posts during the time of day your page sees the most traffic. You can determine this by clicking on the “insights” tab, on the top of the page. I’m in love with this feature, and I plan to use it more often!
woolastonentertainment.com
Greetings, everyone! I hope you had a wonderful weekend. I have some wonderful news for you, so let’s jump right in: one of my books is available for check-out at a public library in Arizona, I’m further along in my drafts for the next two Valentine Apart books, and Biologicals is currently available in paperback form!
Patagonia Public Library
First, I need to say thank you to Shannon Wright of the Patagonia Public Library, for sharing info about the Street Lit Program on Facebook! This was created in order to give indie authors some exposure. I donated a copy of Our Lady of Righteous Rage: Extended and Uncensored , and it’s available for check-out! So, if you’re reading this in Arizona, check out the books in the Street Lit collection!
https://www.patagoniapubliclibrary.org/
This has inspired me to reach out to public libraries beyond my home in New York. If anyone reading this knows of a library seeking book donations, please let me know! You can reach me on the WE website contact page, or just email me: woolent@hotmail.com
New Books in Valentine Apart
As I have mentioned before, I’m working on the next two books for the Valentine Apart series. So far, the drafts are coming along nicely. In Project Sleep, Jo Fuentes is not sure if she’s being paranoid, or if she’s being followed. Her suspicions are confirmed when Kelly McCormick gives her her next assignment.
Speaking of Kelly, in Young Kelly McCormick, Kelly attends a meeting and makes it very clear to the rest of the Syndicate, where she stands. She’s not there to be anyone’s secretary, and she wants just as much respect as the men sitting in the room. Of course, if she’s going to get a seat at the table, she’ll have to earn it the hard way…
I’ll keep you posted as I continue to write.
Biologicals
The paperback is ready! You can find it now in the Create Space store! By tomorrow, it should also be available on Amazon’s site. I will release the Ebook in a few weeks. I really hope everyone enjoys the latest Our Lady story!
Until next week, folks!
woolastonentertainment.com
Long long ago, back in 2009, I published my first book, Fortune’s Wing, with a POD (print-on-demand) company called Xlibris. Then, I published Valentine. I published a third book, and would have happily contiuned to work with them, until I went to an ALA convention. My books, along with the books of several other Xlibris authors, was on display, with the hope that libraries and schools would order copies. I was given the impression, the someone would be on hand to offer info about the books. Instead, the books were placed on a large bookshelf, and the representative from Xlibris simply sat at the table in silence. Top notch marketing…
Fast forward to 2015. I republished on my own, via Create Space, Amazon’s self-publishing platform. Needless to say, I’m much happier with Create Space, and KDP. However, I still have copies of the editions I published with Xlibris, and I’d like to sell what I have left.
If you would like to purchase a copy of Fortune’s Wing or Valentine, they are available on my website, woolastonentertainment.com, for $3 each, with $1 shipping. I’ll even sign them for you!
Happy Monday, folks! Welcome back to the Monday Blog. This week’s topic: how well do you know Our Lady of Righteous Rage, the series? I have created a 20-question quiz for readers to test their knowledge! The questions are pretty easy, and it’s just for fun. The higher your score, the more knowledgeable you are! The highest possible score is 20 points, so if you want to test your knowledge, I wish you the best of luck!
Here’s a link to the quiz: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfq3Vi4xYykzMMLBD3FLtq9W-qh1R7FLRLUVYxiplNASETQNw/viewform
Whether you’ve read the series or not, I believe you’ll still enjoy the quiz. If you’ve read the series, it’s a fun way to find out how much you may actually remember from it. If you haven’t read the series, this may pique your interest.
In other news, I have outlined the remaining chapters of Righteous (46-95, to be exact). Hopefully, I will have the first draft completed by mid-April or so.
Also, I’ve made a change to the Author’s Corner requirements, so please have a look!
Hello! Have you read any of the books from my series, Our Lady of Righteous Rage ? Test your knowledge of the series by taking my quiz! Twenty multiple choice questions! One point per question. The higher your score, the more knowledgeable you are! Here’s the link to the quiz: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfq3Vi4xYykzMMLBD3FLtq9W-qh1R7FLRLUVYxiplNASETQNw/viewform
Enjoy!
Welcome back to the Monday Blog, everyone. This week, I wanted to talk about SEO, and the Valentine 3 giveaway. Plus, other #FreeBookFebruary goodies.
Fun With SEO
In case you don’t know what SEO is, it stands for Search Engine Optimization. This is the practice of using certain key words and phrases on your website, which will guide people to your website.
The best place to start, is with your content. Creating engaging content for your site can be difficult and a bit time consuming, but it’s definitely worth it, once you begin to see results. I didn’t take this very seriously, until about a year ago. When I changed my site’s content, I noticed more and more people were looking at it. The first words that appear on your site, are the most important. On Woolaston Entertainment’s home page, beneath the WE logo, are the words “Author and Artist”. This tells you who I am, and what “m about. Next, is “Creator of Unique Amazon Books”, which is one of the things I do. Try to look at your site from your viewer’s point of view. If you wanted someone to search for your site, what would you expect them to type? If you sell men’s shoes, a key phrase to include on your homepage would be “men’s shoes”. However, if you sell a specific brand of shoes, such as Steve Madden, you would include “Steve Madden” on your homepage. The more specific you are, the more results you’ll receive, and more people will find your site.
There’s a great article online, which can walk you through SEO, step by step, called “How to Optimize Your Website for Search Engine Use”. The link is here: https://www.wikihow.com/Optimize-Your-Website-for-Search-Engine-Use
You may also want to look into the company you use to maintain your website. For example, I use Go Daddy, which has a pretty decent SEO feature.
Valentine Giveaway Results
I ran a promotion for Valentine 3 on Feb 12, and it ended on Feb 14 (Valentine’s Day!). Seven copies were downloaded, which is nice. So, I’m making progress!
The Witch of Fulton Lane
The Witch of Fulton Lane is now available as an eBook! The price is only 99 cents, so if you have a Kindle or the Kindle App, you can purchase a copy! It’s available here: https://www.amazon.com/Witch-Fulton-Lane-Nicole-Woolaston-ebook/dp/B079T848JG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1518881586&sr=8-1&keywords=the+witch+of+fulton+lane
Allan and Mac Giveaway
From Feb 19 through Feb 21, you can download a copy of Allan and Mac: A Valentine Apart Story, for FREE!! This is the first book in the Valentine Apart series, and it introduces siblings Allan and Mac Avery, the hitmen from Valentine 3: Queen of Hearts. If you have a Kindle or the Kindle App, please take advantage of this opportunity.
Until next week…
Hello! Welcome back! I missed you over the weekend (really, I did!) It’s Monday, so it’s time for the Monday Blog. It’s Valentine month, so I have good news, and great news! Plus, I’m going to answer one of my reader’s questions: Is Valentine a feminist series?
Valentine 1 and 2 Promotion Results
The first two books in the Valentine series were free for Kindle and the Kindle App, from Feb 5th through the 9th. The results: seven of you downloaded books! Two of you emailed me to say how much you enjoyed the books! Thank you! I’m going to run promotions like this throughout the rest of the year, so you may want to check the website often. And now for the better news…
Valentine 3 Promotion
You’ve read books 1 and 2, so you may as well read 3, right? Valentine 3: Queen of Hearts, will be FREE, for Kindle and the Kindle App, from Feb 12th through 14th (starting TODAY!) So, if you have the Kindle or the Kindle App, you can download a free copy! How cool is that?
Valentine 3 is available here: https://www.amazon.com/Valentine-Hearts-Nicole-E-Woolaston-ebook/dp/B01MXXYCEC/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1518289553&sr=8-1
Is Valentine a Feminist Series?
I never really thought of myself as a feminist, or a feminist writer, for that matter. I simply write what I like. My writing began with my love of books, and my difficulty finding books with subjects I wanted to read about, over time. But I suppose I can call myself a feminist writer: most of my characters are female, and most of those females are not “damsels in distress”.
Now, for the question: Is Valentine a feminist series? The answer: yes. Sure it is. Was that my intention? No. But that’s the way it worked out. Let’s consider the definition of the word feminist: person who supports feminism. Well, that didn’t help, did it? Let’s consider the definition of feminism instead: the advocacy of women’s rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes. That’s much better. Think about the “heroes” we see in movies and on television. There have always been plenty of “tough guys” around. The renegade cop with a chip on his shoulder. The butt-kicking karate expert. There are plenty of strong male characters, but now, more strong female characters are emerging. Val Entienne is a female, but she has some masculine traits: she carries a pair of guns, she drives a classic Mustang, she’s not afraid to get into a fight, etc. She’s like this, because she can be like this. I wanted to take a male personality, and place it inside a female character. Then I wanted to surround her with other females like herself (Lola Vencent, Jo Fuentes, Mac Avery, etc.). In the end, I wanted to show, a girl and be both a badass, and a girl.
Until next week…
woolastonentertainment.com 