Tag: writing

Monday Blog: Fun With SEO; Valentine Giveaway Results

· Leave a comment ·

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.

 

The Witch of Fulton Lane
Allan and Mac

 

 

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…

 

 

Monday Blog: Is Valentine a Feminist Series?

· 1 Comment ·
Val3CoverFinal
Valentine 3

 

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…

 

Monday Blog: 5 Things Every Self-Published Author Needs

· Leave a comment ·
Books2018
20 of the Woolaston Entertainment books, by June Parris and myself

 

Hello, everyone. Here we are: the final Monday Blog for January. This week’s topic: things I think every self-published author should have. No, I’m not naming random things, here. These are things that have been a great help to me, and I wanted to share them with my fellow writers.

  1. A Website: Good Lord, if you don’t have a website, what are you doing? Sure, you may not know much about building a website, but you can always enlist the skills of others to do this for you. I created my site through Go Daddy, on my own. Plus, Go Daddy offers tech support, and has a range of templates to choose from. Like I always say, if I can do it, anyone Your website should contain info about your books, where they can be purchased, and how readers can get in contact with you. There are plenty of online sources with tips on how to set up your website, and you’re more than welcome to use mine as an example. If you decide to use Go Daddy, I suggest taking advantage of their SEO option (search engine optimization). 
  1. A Catalogue: The best way for you to get your name out there, is by giving your readers a list of books to choose from. Show your readers your true writing ability. This can be a single series of books, or several individual books. I have 4 series, and 1 individual book (which I will most likely write a sequel to). In all, I have published 19 books. Search for Nicole Woolaston on Amazon or Goodreads and take a look.
  1. Facebook Page: Yes, many of us use Snap Chat, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, LinkedIn, etc. I’m on all of that crap, and yes, it’s tiring. But Facebook is where it’s at. Why? Two words: Ad Space. Facebook is a wonderful (and free) way to connect with a large audience. Friends can like your posts and share them, then other people will share them, and so on. As for ad space, while it may not be free, it is DIRT CHEAP. Example: I made Our Lady of Righteous Rage: Extended and Uncensored free for Kindle for 3 days. I ran an ad on Facebook (spending only $3; I could have spent a little more and reached more people). Six people downloaded my book. Over 100 saw the ad, 12 people clicked on it. Either way, I gained 6 new readers and exposure for my book.
  1. PayPal: I’m recommending this for 3 reasons. 1) It’s a safe and effective way to collect payment from book sales, should you choose to sell them on your website. 2) You can use PayPal to pay for ad space on Facebook. 3) You can use PayPal to pay for extras for your website, if you happen to use Go Daddy.
  1. Fiverr: I’ll give you a minute to let this last one marinate. Ready? Good. If you need someone to help you build your website, create an effective Facebook ad, edit your book, design a cover, etc, there are plenty of people on Fiverr who can do those things for you, starting at $5. Also, it’s a great way to earn funds to support your Facebook ads and pay for your website. I write book reviews via Fiverr, starting at $5 per review, and the money I’ve earned since August 2017 has paid for all of my Facebook ad space, and my website. Think about it.

 

Keep a few things in mind:

Everything will not be free. Many things will be, but not everything.

Sometimes, you will need to spend money in order to make money. I’m not suggesting you break the bank, but $3-$10 for some ad space, or $5 for a book review to boost readership and sales, isn’t asking a lot.

You have to be willing to try. Fear held me back for a long time, until I let go of my fear, and jumped. You have to be willing to take risks.

Decide if you just want to write books, or if you actually want to sell them. If you just want to get your name in print, then kudos! But, if you want to sell some books, you’re going to have to put some work in, beyond typing a manuscript.

See you next week…

Monday Blog: Learning From Failure

· Leave a comment ·
Nicole_WEBooksMarch2017
Some of my books were published through Xlibris, others with Create Space

 

Happy Monday, everyone! This week, I wanted to discuss the importance of failure. Yes, failure is important. When things don’t go the way you want them to, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I’ve had several failures in my life, and I’m grateful for each one, because I learned a valuable lesson from them.

I’ve worked at jobs I couldn’t stand. I’ve been to college, but didn’t graduate. I’ve worked with publishers who either ripped me off, or simply folded. Something wonderful has come out of each of these events. For example:

The Event                                Negatives                                           Positives

Working at Walgreen’s         long hours, crazy schedules            $ for publishing,

                                                   limited free time                              learned to manage business

                                                                                                                learned customer service

 

Working at B&N                    not much $                                         learned book releases                                                                                                                          discount on books

                                                                                                               internet access

 

Going to Art Institute             $$student loan                              intro’d to work of Patti Smith,

                                                                                                             Rimbaud, Diane Arbus

                                                                                                             learned Photo Shop

                                                                                                             learned how to use color

                                                                                                             learned to design website

 

Working with Xlibris              $$$ for marketing                          learned about publishing

                                                   $$$ for publishing                           learned about marketing

                                                                                                               my work in print

 

 

In every case, the positives far outweighed the negatives. Take all of the negative things in your life, whether it’s your job, or school, or even a relationship, and pull as many useful things as you can from them. I may not have finished at the Art Institute (they closed their TriBeCa location because the Government sued them, BTW), but I did learn to use Photo Shop, I learned how to use a variety of color schemes, and how to design a website. Working with Xlibris may have been costly, but I was able to get my work in print for the first time. So, I took a negative, and turned it into a positive. I hope you can do the same.

Until next week…

Monday Blog: Corrections

· Leave a comment ·
Author Page
My Amazon Author Page

 

If you’ve ever self-published a book via Amazon’s Create Space, or KDP, chances are, you have an Amazon Author Page. I have one, and it’s pretty nice. However, if you have one, it doesn’t hurt to check it out once and a while. Make sure all of the information on your page is correct and up to date. I recently checked mine, and I received a bit of a shock. Some of my books had been incorrectly linked together, and the summary for one book was listed under another book. This can really hurt you as an author, in terms of sales. Readers may choose your book based on the wrong information, or not choose your book at all. I was about to run a promotion for one of my books when I noticed the errors. Thankfully, I made some corrections through KDP for the eBooks, and I notified Amazon about the other mistakes. Within 72 hours, everything was fixed.

This past weekend, if you followed me on Twitter, Instagram or checked the Woolaston Entertainment FB page, you may have seen Our Lady of Righteous Rage: Extended and Uncensored was available for free. This campaign ran for three days (Friday, Saturday and Sunday). My next promotion will take place in February, for Valentine and Valentine 2: The Patron Saint.

Until next week!

eBooks!!!!

· Leave a comment ·

I’m still learning to navigate that tricky thing known as Amazon’s KDP. It took several tries to upload two of my titles in order to convert them into eBooks, but I finally managed to get it done. The original covers wouldn’t upload, but that’s okay too; I simply created new ones. So as of today, 18 of my 19 books are available in paperback AND eBook form. Here are some of the most recent editions:

Fortune’s Wing: Flies Again: https://www.amazon.com/Fortunes-Wing-Flies-Nicole-Woolaston-ebook/dp/B078TNTLTG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1515597447&sr=8-1&keywords=fortune%27s+wing+flies+again

Her Name is Lola Vencent: https://www.amazon.com/Her-Name-Lola-Vencent-Valentine-ebook/dp/B078TPCXCZ/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1515597526&sr=1-1&keywords=her+name+is+lola+vencent

Jo Fuentes: The Black Queen: https://www.amazon.com/Jo-Fuentes-Black-Queen-Valentine-ebook/dp/B078TNHBRF/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1515597565&sr=1-1&keywords=jo+fuentes+the+black+queen

Valentine 4: Past and Present: https://www.amazon.com/Valentine-4-Present-Nicole-Woolaston-ebook/dp/B078TQ7YG3/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1515597588&sr=1-1&keywords=valentine+4+past+and+present

Valentine 5: The Queen’s Fold: https://www.amazon.com/Valentine-5-Queens-Nicole-Woolaston-ebook/dp/B078TQZGYQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1515597620&sr=1-1&keywords=valentine+5+the+queens+fold

Novocaine: https://www.amazon.com/Novocaine-Lady-Righteous-Rage-Book-ebook/dp/B078WWHLWW/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1515597639&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=novocaine+nicoe+woolaston

Another Shot of Novocaine: https://www.amazon.com/Another-Shot-Novocaine-Lady-Righteous-ebook/dp/B078WWRQKH/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1515597639&sr=1-2-fkmr0&keywords=novocaine+nicoe+woolaston

 

I’m going to release the eBook version of The Witch of Fulton Lane within the next month or so. You can also expect special promotions on my eBooks, which will happen throughout the year. 

Monday Blog (on Wednesday): New Year, New Plans

· Leave a comment ·

Welcome to the first Monday Blog for 2018, on a Wednesday! Monday was New Year’s Day, so I took time off to relax. But the holiday is over, so it’s time to get back to work.

WEBooks

Most people like to make New Year’s Resolutions. I stopped doing that a few years ago. However, this year, I have decided to set a few goals for myself, and for Woolaston Entertainment.

1. Publish 5 more books by the end of 2018.

2. Read 100 new books

3. Create new merchandise for W.E.

4. Put my books in the hands of new readers, both here in the states, and abroad.

I’m also planning to use my social media pages more often. This means, more posts on Tumblr, more tweets on Twitter, and more ads on Facebook.  I’d also like to reach out to my readers: if you’ve ever read a Woolaston Entertainment book, please post a review online. Or, send me your thoughts via the contact page on this site! I would love to know what you think.

To all of my fellow writers, artists and creators: I hope you have a wonderful year. It’s January, so we’re just getting started. Best wishes to everyone and Happy New Year!

 

Monday Blog: Wrapping Up 2017

· Leave a comment ·

Happy Holidays, everyone! Welcome to the final blog post for 2017! I hope everyone enjoys their holiday. With 2017 coming to a close, it’s time to look ahead to 2018. But first, what happened to W.E. in 2017? I published more books this year than ever before. I’m having a comic published in my high school’s newspaper,  The Bear Facts (from Bethel High in Virginia). I created a brand new story, The Witch of Fulton Lane. And, I’ve managed to use my writing to fund this website. All in all, I’d say 2017 was a great year for W.E.

 

Jon and Olivia Homecoming2.2
Jon and Olivia comic

 

The year 2018 is right around the corner. When January hits, I’m going into “beast mode”. My goal is to place more W.E. books in the hands of more readers, and start picking up some online reviews. I have plans to start a book club, which would start out with W.E. books, but would eventually expand. Our Lady of Righteous Rage is coming back, along with a side story, Dee Seybrook: Rock n’ Roll Diva.  I’d also like to dive deeper into the life of Valentine’s Jo Fuentes, by giving her another stand-alone book. Plus, merchandise! Next year, there will be some merchandise (other than the books) available on woolastonentertainment.com.  Calendars, posters, etc.

OLORR album cover

 

2017 was great, but I know 2018 will be even better. I’ll see you on the other side!

www.woolastonentertainment.com

Monday Blog: From Here to There

· 4 Comments ·
cover of “From Here to There”

Sorry about the late post, everyone! But, here we go: Monday Blog, on a Tuesday. This week, I wanted to take another trip into W.E.’s past, and share a little info about a book I wrote about fifteen years ago, which later turned into one of the best books I’ve published. That book is From Here to There. This is the story of Amy Edwards and her friends, and their final year in high school. It is a hand-written book, one I never expected to publish. Years later, in 2015, I took a look at the story, did some extensive editing, and wrote the manuscript for Our Lady of Righteous Rage, and published it.

While Our Lady turned out to be a pretty decent book, I decided there was more I could have done with the story. For example, this version, along with From Here, didn’t contain any profanity. I considered using profanity while writing the book, but changed my mind. After Our Lady became available to the public, I re-read it, and decided to add profanity after all. Personally, I think it works for this story, There have been several debates between writers about the use of profanity in writing. Some say, don’t  use it. I say, if it works for your story or dialogue, go for it. I’m not saying, every other word in your book should be f-this and f-that, but sometimes, it does work. It depends on your audience. Our Lady of Righteous Rage: Extended and Uncensored, does contain some profanity, but its not excessive.

While the story may have changed between the original and the current versions, the theme has remained the same: kids coming of age in high school. I’d like to put together a book which would contain the original versions of all of my stories, giving readers a chance to contrast and compare, or just to see where my younger mind was , all those years ago.  We’ll see.

 

Punk and Whiskers is an Ebook!

Yes, yes, there is finally an ebook version of Punk and Whiskers: Short Stories Featuring Our Lady of Righteous Rage. If you have an Amazon Kindle, or the Kindle App, you can download a copy for only $1.99. If you haven’t already read this short story collection, this is a great opportunity to check it out.  Its available here: https://www.amazon.com/Punk-Whiskers-Stories-Featuring-Righteous-ebook/dp/B078B1C1YT/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1513714563&sr=8-1&keywords=punk+and+whiskers+nicole+woolaston

Until next week…

 

 

Monday Blog: The Early Days of Woolaston Entertainment

· Leave a comment ·
WE Plush Dolls
L-R: Amy, David, Dee, Neon Angel (from “Enos”) and Degenerate R

 

From 1994 to around 2005, there was more to Woolaston Entertainment than just books. There are comics and artwork now, but back then, my focus was spread more evenly. Watching a ton of magic-girl anime created the comic/series Enos, which later created Degenerate R. Plus, I drew other comics and a produced a few calendars to compliment the books I was working on. I didn’t have the money to have posters printed, so everything was drawn by hand. In fact, I even created a few plush dolls. Of course, I continued to write. I hand-wrote a ton of books, and every other year or so, I wrote a compendium, or a detailed account of all things W.E..

8th Dimension We Dont Talk
comic from “The 8th Dimension”, 1995
Enos_OriginComic_Inside
scene from original “Enos” comic, 1996

 

Comics

The comics eventually fell by the wayside, when the books took over. In the beginning, there was The 8th Dimension, my tribute to Gary Larson’s The Far Side. These were single-scene, black and white sketches (poorly drawn, I might add), which I created in 1995. Next, came my sci-fi series, Enos, which features some of the characters you may know from Our Lady of Righteous Rage. Enos concerned two races of aliens in a battle for a power known as the Neon White Flame: the power that was used to create the universe and the planets and was given to one race of aliens by Heaven itself. I completed the first comic book in 1995, and drew a few single comics over the following years, but ultimately wrote a series of books instead. There were also three other comics: Mike & Vanessa, Sarconi and Seybrook, which were featured in a 1999 calendar.

 

50 handwritten books
50 of my hand-written books

 

Hand Written Books

If you ever need proof, that the time you spent creating and drawing and being a bit of a nerd, can be useful, here it is! I started writing books for myself when I was in first grade, and I continued all the way until 2010. The only reason I stopped, is because I had finally published something (Fortune’s Wing). But all of that creative energy was not wasted. Nineteen published books and counting, with sales, positive reviews and a book signing, are proof of that. Fortune’s Wing, Valentine and Our Lady, all began as books I wrote within the pages of composition notebooks and journals. Like all of my hand written books, they had covers, spine labels, and summaries on the back.

 

Writing Goals

I’d like to go back to all of those old books and polish them, and publish them, one at a time. Some will need more work than others, but I believe it’s going to be a fun challenge. Someday, maybe I’ll publish a few comics, too!

 

Until next week…

http://www.woolastonentertainment.com