Delicious Amazon Reviews for Who’s That in the Cat Pajamas?

Almost one month ago today, I released Who’s That in the Cat Pajamas?  It was my first real children’s book and I had been working on this dream since my granddaughter, Raevyndaun asked me to write a book she could read.

This month has brought in 10 reviews for the book. Most verified and thrilled to say that. Most have been 5-star reviews. Even the 4 stars have been so amazingly beautiful to me. Thankfully, no one has had a negative word to say about Dolcey or my writing.

I can’t describe how wonderful that feels. It is like a month of birthday cake without the guilt and weight gain.  That’s about the best I can describe it.

I am so thankful to everyone that has reviewed so far and I am going to call out your reviewer name in thanks.

I will start with the 2 Amazon reviewers.  

Amazon Reviewer 1 

Janet Balletta             Blog post (check out the post! It is amazing!!!)

Chris

Sherrie Marshall      Blog post! (Check out the post It was wonderful!!)

Cathy A. Christmas

Leigh Holland          Blog Interview  (This was so fun. Check out her blog!)

Amazon Reviewer 2

Bob Richley              Blog post (Check this out, It is a great post!)

Aunt Bee

Sian  Claven              Blog Post (Check out the beautiful post from tbbmaniacs!)

 Robbie Cheadle        Blog Post (Check out her fantastic post!)

So this is a monthly recap. This is an exciting month in paperback sales as well. I have been mailing out several books a week to readers that want a signed copy for their children and grandchildren. I appreciate every request and make sure the turn around time is quick. If you want your child to meet Docley and have a signed book, just write me or comment below. I sell them for the paperback Price of $9.20 and $3.00 shipping.

Thanks to, Gloria, Martha, Cindy and Maci,  Jacinthe, Laura, Beverly, Betty,  Cindy E, Tensley and Willow, Wilson, Elliot, Brynlea and Lulee.  I will not mention all the family’s books I have sent out. All I can say is when I walk into the post office, they call out, “MEDIA MAIL, right?”

So I am thrilled to be sharing this with you. I love to promote marketing ideas and Indie authors. I wanted you to see, I believe my marketing is paying off.  I am following as many posts, newsletters, and live events as I can to learn more.  Always willing to learn more tips if you have them.

Who’s That in the Cat Pajamas? is #118 in her genre right now.  She has been as low as 75 so I still hope to see her dropping toward #1. Even the top 100 is fine with me.

The first live book signing event takes place on August 26 and 27, 2017. I have books available or bring your own. I will happily sign a copy. I am also writing a prequel to Dolcey’s story for a live reading during the event.

There will be a children’s reading corner and I am going to read this new story. Yikes, I volunteer for so many things I am just not prepared for. So I have to race and get prepared.  Join us in August. 

We’re STILL ACCEPTING authors who are seeking signing opportunities to participate in the Bluegrass Book Bash 2017 event. It’s taking place Aug 26-27 in Corbin, Kentucky and we still have several tables left to fill! Authors of all genres and locations are welcome, and there will activities for kids during the event. If you’re interested, please join this group to get the full info on table prices, payments, etc. We’d love to have you join us!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1071527046287989 and on the web at Form of Interest

Share some feedback! I am curious as to how my little numbers are for a new indie author.

Meet Emily from Who's That in the Cat Pajamas?

Dolcey has a gift, her talent is helping children when troubles come their way. Not small problems, but big problems that are difficult to work through. In book 1 of the Dolcey series, we meet Emily.

Emily has a dilemma, her parents have just told her news that devastated her young heart. She is expected to leave her friends and family. Worst of all, they seem to want her to be happy about this.

This little brown hair green eyed girl is angry, and she is not going to hide in her room and silently sulk. She has other ideas, in fact, she is going to make them realize just how sad and upset she really is.

When she begins to cry before going to sleep on the night she got the news, she never expected for something so magical and so amazing to happen. It almost made her smile. But that would never do, how could she smile when her young life had been flipped upside down.

If you want to read how one little girl and one little cat can make life better with magic and sharing, then pick up, Who's that in the Cat Pajamas? A children's chapter book in the Docley series that is coming to Amazon and Barnes and Noble on June 2, 2017.

Keep watching for more character moments from this upcoming book by Sojourner McConnell.

Sharing my schedule for releasing an Indie book and marketing for any author

I have another blog where I write reviews and personal stories. Today I delved into the scheduling of a book launch. I feel it is good sound logical advice, so I will give a bit of a recap here. I only do this to help any writers like me that want to Indie publish and are afraid of all the steps. I hope this breaks it into simple to understand structure to take some of that fear away.  

You are still writing the book and you are getting close to the much anticipated moment when you can type The End! But you might not be there yet. This is the time to find your editor, choose your cover designer and wrangle up some beta readers.  
Many editors want you to have been at least beta read before they take a look at it so that there are less errors and problems for them to deal with. Three Beta Readers to me, are enough. Some writers use more some while use only a selected few. 

But lets plan for starting your process, three to four months before releasing your book. Take a look around at the different websites that are available for authors to set up, many basic ones are free, Blogger, Wordpress, WIX, Author's Den, just to name a few. 

• Create your author website or author's blog.
• Create an Author Facebook account or spruce up an existing author page.
• Tweet out your new or revamped author page.
• Share on your personal Facebook pages and in groups.
• Share your character's journey on Twitter, Facebook, blog, and Website.
• Set up Mailchimp or other sign up forms for newsletters.
• Create a relationship with reviewers, bloggers, and readers.
• Arrange for beta readers, editors, illustrators and cover artist.
• Polish your book blurb and your elevator blurb.

Now we can work on these for the next few months and polish each step so that they become the piece of art you know they can be. At two months before the anticipated launch you need to be finished with the second draft and ready for eyes on the book. Contact your beta readers, get their input and start fixing those plot holes and confusing bits. Don't forget the semi colons. 

• Final line, copy and editorial editing,
• Final proofreading once all the changes have been made.
• Begin to introduce characters in blog posts, Facebook posts, and tweets.
• Create an email address for character reader interaction, if wanted.
• Begin to network with parent/genre specific groups on Facebook, Twitter, and blogs.
• Upload to Amazon as a pre-order. Pre-orders will also secure your title and author page on Goodreads.
  • You can upload an unedited version without a cover up to three months in advance as long as you make sure to upload the final version 3 days before launch.
• Reach out to other bloggers about potential guest posts and character interviews.

This is where you have to wait on other people and have a moment to focus on the non-creative side of publishing. allow your editor to do their magic, while you focus on the author side of the business. 

You are one month out from your launch date and you have pretty much decided you will be ready to launch on a certain date. Claim it. Focus on completing all your tasks by that date. 

• Increase name branding in all platforms.
• Confirm blog interaction with the correct genre bloggers and reviewers. Arrange interviews, launch day events and guest posts leading up to the launch.
• Create author group on Facebook inviting reviewers, supportive friends and network members such as illustrators, editors, bloggers, and known readers.
• Confirm launch date and start sharing definite launch date.
• Send out welcome newsletter introducing your characters, interesting information, and launch date.
• Remind the newsletter readers of the Goodreads giveaway and invite them to read and review to make your launch a success.

Now you are gearing up, you are feeling the pressure, but you have a game plan. Stick with the plan. You are about three weeks from your launch date and it is all marketing while you make the last edits on your book. Sending it to the proofreader and once again waiting for responses.  Use this time to take it to the next step. 

• Send out Newsletter announcing the launch date, request for ARC reviews, and guest blog opportunities. Never hurts to have new bloggers interested in hosting a post.
• Host a cover reveal. Invite all your readers, friends, blogger friends, twitter followers and Facebook audience.
• Advertise Cover reveal in Goodreads on groups for writers, readers, genre specific groups.
• Make a Facebook page for your book. Invite people that enjoy your work to visit the page.
• Make the page a merchant page with the buy now button.  Learn how here!
• Like similar genre pages as your author page and book page.
  • Right, click on the down arrow next to the share button and you can like the page as your author and book pages.
• Create a presence in Goodreads leading up to your launch.
• Post on Goodreads in both groups and review areas.
• Reach out to reviewers as soon as you have an advance copy available.

You are two weeks from Launch date and there are still more things you can do to prepare. If your edits are complete then upload the finalized version to your Amazon account so that when the book is sent to the pre-order buyers, it is the correct one. You can wait up until 3 days before it goes live, but I usggest yuou do it as soon as the finalized version is ready. 

• Provide the links for your book to ARC readers on both amazon and Goodreads.
• Send out newsletter thanking the ones that have joined your group, ARC launch team, and provided support by spreading the word.
• Invite readers to pick up your book on launch day or using the pre-order button on Amazon and don't forget to provide the links.

One week from launch and you are beside yourself with anticipation and excitement. Relax, you are almost there. Let's go over some last minute steps to bring this to a successful conclusion. 

• Post blog posts reminding followers of your launch. Invite them to the giveaway on Goodreads. Invite them to read and review your new book. Thank them for being a huge part of this process.
• Blog about your release on your Goodreads author blog.
• Bring your author page on Goodreads and Amazon up to date. Make sure you have a professional look and have connected your blog to your amazon Author page.
• Create a launch party on your group page and send out invitations to those on your regular friends' list and author page followers. This is your moment to shine.

You have done it! It is Launch day and you are ready, calm, cool and collected. You know you have done everything in your power to make today a success. 

• Celebrate!
• Read your reviews.
• Contact any reviewers that posted and thank them for being a part of your exciting day.
• Enjoy your launch day party.
• Blog about your exciting journey and share any early reviews. Remember to attach links to your books and author page.
• Enjoy the fact that your much-loved project is now safely in the hands of the public.

I hope you enjoyed this check list of sorts to help you prepare for one of the most exciting days of your life as a writer.  Congratulations for your success.  

I hope these ideas help you along the path to your book launch. If you would like to be a part of my launch team, let me know. You can also find Sojourner McConnell on Facebook, Brand new  Facebook Group,  Twitter,  Goodreads, The Path of the Writer, and  Amazon.

And to show you I follow my own schedule I just tonight uploaded my book as a pre-order and it is now sitting on Amazon while I go through the other steps preparing for my June 2, 2017, launch.  Here is my new book, Who's That in the Cat Pajamas? 

On a personal note, I hope if you have children, you will pick it up. I am quite proud of it and excited to see it on Amazon. 

The End! Celebration!

I just typed The End to the Dolcey story.

I am super excited and also thrilled that after the post earlier, an illustrator contacted me to illustrate the book.  I just am beyond happy at this moment.

My 3-month dream of writing this book has happened.

On to editing:
On to illustrations:
On to publishing.

Hip Hip Hurray!

Exciting News on the Writing Front

Exciting news on the writing front.

Seven years ago I wrote an article on a mining explosion in the small town where I lived near Birmingham, Alabama. Each year a new group of people find the article and pass it around on Facebook. This year it landed in the hands of the Editor of the Jefferson County Historical Society Journal.

Tom contacted me and asked if they could publish it in their quarterly journal.  I agreed and set about making sure all the i's were dotted and the t's crossed.  No typos to embarrass me on this.  When I checked my email this morning I was asked if I would like to be a contributor to the journal. Again, I had no qualms about saying yes. I look at it like "loves writing loves to research"kind of vibe.  I am a thrilled writer.

I am in the middle of writing two brand new books.

The first one is featuring a little cat who assists children in finding their happiness.  This is looking to be a series of books. I will share more about this book later.  For now, I will say, I love this cat!
Here is a little snippet from the book:

Emily brought a small shallow bowl of milk and set it in front of Dolcey. She placed it right against the little rug and Dolcey stopped padding her feet and took dainty laps of the milk. Her little cat lips turned up in a smile as she realized she would be sleeping here tonight with the little sad girl named Emily. Tomorrow she would start helping Emily find her smile again. For tonight, though, we sleep in the big toasty bed.

The second book is about a personable alien.  He is quite chatty to me when I am writing, although he speaks a different language than I, we are on the same page. So beware the alien, Hiram.

Here is a  little snippet from the book:

“My name is Hiram. Well, I go by Hiram here. My real name is unpronounceable by mere humans. It involves clicks, gurgles and a sound that only a body with two larynxes can form.“
“Seeing as you were born on this blue ball you call Earth; I will assume you have only one larynx. So you may call me Hiram. 

I hope you are intrigued about these two books and keep following the blog.