Book Featured on Digital Book Today

So excited to see my Book 4 featured on Digital Book Today!

https://digitalbooktoday.com/

FREE BOOK

It's 27th already here in Australia, so Book 4 is now FREE for a couple of days.

Its Fantasy Adventure and the first three books have ratings of 4.5, 4.8 and 4.4 stars. Having just published I have only one review on Book 4 and it is 5 stars.

The other 3 books are only US 99cents each but Book 4 is currently FREE.

I would love to have some avid readers download it and give it a review.

https://www.amazon.com/Dan-OSullivan/e/B00KRYRPU2%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

The Free Book 4 - First review 5 stars - GET IT FREE between 27-29 Dec.

Got my first review on Amazon for my new book. 5 stars! So pleased.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08QVDSGG4/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i3

That's the link if you would like to check it out. I would love to have some more people read it and leave reviews. 

As of tomorrow I am putting it up on a FREE book promo for three days.

Please read it and leave a review.

The Free - Book 4 in my Fantasy Adventure series is NOW LIVE ON AMAZON!

Its been out now in Australia for nearly a day and as the new day comes around the world, it's going live, country by country. 

You might like to read Books 1, 2 and 3 first, but if you like Fantasy Adventure you will love the series.

   - The Fallen

   - The Guardians

   - Child of a Guardian and of the Free

   - The Free

...all by me - alias Dan O'Sullivan.

Hope you like them!  

Here is the link: 

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Daoine+maithe&rh=n%3A668010011&ref=nb_sb_noss

Merry Christmas from Danielle

The Free BOOK 4 in Dan O'Sullivan's Fantasy Adventure Series - RELEASING TOMORROW

This is it! So excited that tomorrow Book 4 of the Daoine Maithe series will be released.

An adventure filled with love, war, desire, intrigue, hate, revenge, obsession and passion.

You can pre-order today for only US$0.99 (That's about $1.31 for the Aussies.)

Its available on Amazon - Just search for Dan O'Sullivan The Free under books.

https://www.amazon.com/Dan-OSullivan/e/B00KRYRPU2/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_ebooks_1

If you enjoy it, please let me a 5 star review.

Thank you!

KDP Kindle Book Covers - Where to get the paperback template

When you are entering your info into KDP, it will ask you if you want to create your own cover or use their tool to create a cover.

I suggest you choose to use their tool, but have a pdf image of your cover ready to go. That way you can create your images for front of book, spine, and back of book and just overlay them on the template, flatten the image and save as a pdf.

Firstly you need to download the paperback book cover template for KDP. 

Here is the link:

            https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/cover-templates

Use this template to ensure the cover you create fits your book and fits the guidelines of KDP. If you are not sure how many pages you have, you can get an exact number by uploading your manuscript and going into the previewer on KDP.

Once you have designed your cover as a high quality PDF, you can then choose to use their cover creator but upload your own file.

Two days to go until release of Dan O'Sullivan's New Book THE FREE.

Get it here:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08QVDSGG4/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i3

Advertising Kindle Book on Amazon - How to successfully market your book. Use of keywords and phrases.

This type of advertising was new to me. I ended up watching a Kindlepreneur course on marketing books on Amazon and I have to say it was fantastic! 

They went through each step of the process and focused on how to get the maximum exposure for my book and how to control the cost. They also have a good amount of info on how to maintain my ad once it is live and how to ensure I alter it to ensure it remains productive.

I highly recommend this course. It was easy to follow and I was able to stop the video and create my ad as it went. 

One of the focuses was on keywords and phrases - hugely significant! I now have hundreds of relevant and useful keywords with little effort. I bought a program called Publisher Rocket and it worth it! Saved me hours of working out keywords and phrases. Now I have over 300 in place and it didn't take very long. Next time I use the program it will be even quicker as I am now familiar with it. 

Seriously, this was a great find. 

Here is the site where I found the course:   https://courses.kindlepreneur.com/

Here is the site where I found Publisher Rocket:    https://publisherrocket.com/

I am releasing Book 4 THE FREE on the 23rd of Dec, so we will see how this advertising goes. BOOK 4 - 23 Dec (Available for pre-order now.) 

Search for Daoine Maithe on Amazon.

    https://www.amazon.com/s?k=daoine+maithe+The+Free&ref=nb_sb_noss 

5 Star Book Reviews

Are you willing to review my new book when I release on 23 Dec?

I would be very grateful if my friends could download a copy and leave a 5 star review.

It can be pre-ordered for only 0.99US. Reviews would be so helpful and I would be very appreciative.

THE FREE (Book 4) Pre-order now for release 23 Dec 2020

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=daoine+maithe&ref=nb_sb_noss

Choosing character traits when writing a book.

More on writing boring stuff… Right at the start, before I type “Chapter 1” I like to write down my characters names and give them traits.

Sam. University student, single, arrogant, obsessed with his pet cat, bad driver, fantastic cook, spends his spare time at the theatre watching old movies, fantasizes about being an alien.

That’s not very inspiring. If I’m still bored when I have written out their traits, chances are I need to start over…

Sam. University student, juggling 3 girlfriends, nervous wreck, talks to his cat like it’s human and believes it answers him, never got a license but drives anyway, experiments with semi-poisonous substances in his cooking, spends all his spare time at the hospital looking for used medical items for his collection of blood-stained paraphernalia, fantasizes about whether his finger will go through into his brain if he picks his nose too hard.

Chances are I will do better the second time.

BOOKS 1, 2 and 3 currently FREE

Free is good.

FREE --> http://amazon.com/-/e/B00KRYRPU2 #goodreads #books

Re-writing chapters

Sometimes when I start re-reading and editing my work, I discover some bits are boring. I have the option to try to make the paragraph/page/chapter more interesting, but to be honest, the best solution I have found is to delete the entire paragraph/page/chapter (and in some case several chapters) and take the story in an entirely different direction. That is not difficult. If it is boring, I get rid of it and write a better chapter tomorrow. Sometimes it is better for me not to try to write the same thing. I like to think outside the box. That’s one of the reasons Fantasy is so easy to write. Anything is possible.

I release Book 4 - "The Free" in 5 days, so for the next few days you can get Books 1, 2 and 3 for free.

GET BOOKS 1, 2 and 3 for FREE on Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=daoine+maithe&ref=nb_sb_noss

Percy Jackson, Books vs Movies

 

I read the Percy Jackson series several times and loved the books. The movies were also good, but they kind of cut off the story line and concluded the story several books short, making it impossible to do books 3 onwards as movies. I keep hoping they will redo the movies from the start and I recently read this: “Disney+ is in the works of rebooting the entire series with author Rick Riordan.” I so hope this is the case. It would be brilliant to see the entire series redone from the start. Fingers crossed.

Advertising your New Release Book

I dedicated today to advertising the upcoming release of Book 4. I googled a gazillion places (some free and some paid) to advertise and promote and sifted through each site one by one to ensure they would accept Fantasy Adventure. It was easier than I imagined it might be. Last three books I didn't do enough of this. Now I intend to drive the advertising and promo work as hard as I can for the next week leading up to publication and then keep it going for as long as possible. I'll report back and let you know how successful it was and which advertising sites were worth the payment. Feeling very positive about all this now.

The link is up on Amazon and available for purchase from 23rd Dec.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08QVDSGG4/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=daoine+maithe&qid=1608177411&sr=8-1

Second Guessing Myself

 

I bet Raymond Feist doesn't sulk when he gets a negative review. I reckon he probably replies with "Sure, whatever you reckon, but look at how many copies I sold, bwah ha ha ha ha!"

Wow I crumbled fast when I got a negative review. I sulked for a couple of minutes then reminded myself to take my own advice and learn from it. For a few minutes there, I was thinking, are my books actually good? I got a lot of good positive reviews, but that one half-hearted review stung a bit. Then I started thinking, why am I writing? Why am I publishing my writing? Because I love writing! I love telling stories. I love sharing them with people. Most people loved the stories, but then someone said the stories were not their taste. That’s fair enough! No every book is to everyone’s taste. I am not going to let one bad review derail me. Onwards and upwards! Publishing in 7 days.

Kindle Direct Publishing

 

You can’t beat it really, if you want to self-publish. I’m in the process of publishing Book 4 of my Daoine Maithe Series, and its been a while. Since I last published, Create Space (who I was using to create paperbacks) has joined with KDP and it is all done in the same place. So a few new things for me to learn, but still seems just as easy to upload and publish.

New writing style or easy to read and comfortable?

I admire someone who wants to break from tradition and present something entirely different, but I haven’t reached that platform yet. Humans are creatures of habit and most enjoy feeling comfortable and secure, with a book that does not cause them to have work hard to read it. The trouble is, in order to make something new “easy to read” I would have to get my audience used to reading that new style of writing. If they are driven away because it’s too different, they will never read another one of my books. If I was going to write something without following the “rules” and in a completely new and unconventional style, it had better be good. Most people will call a book boring if they find it difficult to read or it’s filled with purple prose. Easy to read: Daoine Maithe Books 1, 2 and 3. The Fallen, The Guardians, Child of a Guardian and of the Free. Coming in 8 days: Book 4, The Free.

Lord of the Rings – Make Up Your Own Mind

 

Lord of the Rings has sold over 150million copies. Yet I have ready some of the funniest 1-star reviews about these books. “books for weirdos” “wouldn’t give it to my worst enemy” “who reads trash like that?” “must have been written by a lunatic”. If I ever sell 150million copies of a book, feel free to call me a lunatic. It may not sell 150 million copies, but Book 4 of the Daoine Maithe series is being released in 8 days and is a very good, easy read. It’s fast-paced and action packed, with epic battles, romance, thrilling adventures and plot twists.

Negative Reviews are Fantastic

 

When I was just starting out with writing, I obviously wanted mainly good reviews, but the most useful reviews I got were negative. You can get all your friends, family and paid strangers to leave 5-star reviews, and this will make you feel good. Then you get your first negative review. I like to use these reviews. I pick them apart and see how I can apply the "suggestions" to my work to improve my writing. Sometimes negative reviews are good comedy. I had a review on one of my fantasy books complaining that the book was fantasy. But in many cases, if I believe I can learn and improve, I use negative reviews to work out what I could be doing better.

Self-Editing and Self-Publishing

 

The biggest problem with self-editing, is that you know what you meant to write, so when you read through your work, your eyes tend to slide over the errors and submit to your brain what it expected to see. Paper copies of your work are better for editing. You will pick up more errors. Why? I honestly cannot answer that. It just seems to be the way. Once you have edited your on-line version of your work, get a printed copy, order a copy on KDP, and read it. Once you have read it, drop it into a program like Natural Reader and have it read it back to you. Then get the paper version and read it aloud with expression. Make the changes. Do it all again as many times as it takes until you are no longer finding errors. There will still be some, but with hard work you will weed out most of them. And trust me, your readers will find the rest!

Burn the Boats (Tony Robbins)

“If you want to take the island you need to burn the boats.” —Tony Robbins.Sep 18, 2017

I didn’t do that. As a result, it has taken me years to finish Book 4 of the Daoine Maithe series. I have thought a lot about “burning the boats” and the implications. I genuinely think this is a good strategy if there are not hungry kids, mortgages, bills, and other commitments involved. If I was the only person to be impacted by “burning the boats” I would do it in a second and sometimes I longed to do this. As it is, my boat burning strategy was a little different. In the time it’s taken me to finish off the book, the kids have grown up so much, my dance studio has flourished, and I have written another trilogy for middle-grade. Now I can burn the boats without sinking the family.

Book 4 - The Free - Publishing Soon

Its been a long time coming, but I am now putting the finishing touches on Book 4 of the Daoine Maithe Series. I was side-tracked writing a trilogy for middle-grade, but have finally come back to finish off Book 4 and I will be publishing soon. If you have not read Books 1, 2 and 3, I have dropped the price on all to 99cents each for the Kindle book. Here is the link: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00KRYRPU2