I've got a brand new website up and ready at:
www.hedonistsix.com
Please update your whatever-it-is you use for reading blogs :)
Friday 15 February 2013
Brand new Website!
To everyone who's been following this blog: the time has come for me to move on...
I've got a brand new website up and ready at:
Please update your whatever-it-is you use for reading blogs :)
I've got a brand new website up and ready at:
Please update your whatever-it-is you use for reading blogs :)
Tuesday 12 February 2013
The Sales Guy
As soon as I opened the door, I knew that divine intervention had
caused me to agree to our meeting. Utter perfection, my age or slightly
under.
His green eyes stood out in his boyishly handsome face, complementing his medium brown hair. He kept a beard that was hardly more than a stubble, but it suited him so well that the effect could only have been intentional.
I stretched out my hand, waiting for his.
“Hi, I’m ***, thanks for coming by.” I think I managed a friendly, non-lecherous smile.
“Hi,” His hand held on to mine just long enough to make my heart skip a few beats.
My attention turned to his broad chest, perfectly filling out his grey suit as though he was the only one ever meant to wear it. Although a tie would have sharpened up his look, I was grateful for the slightest glimpse of what remained hidden beyond the unbuttoned collar of his shirt.
I wondered if it was mainly the mystery that was getting to me. Although I can most definitely appreciate a gorgeous man, the vast flow of shirtless models on my Facebook feed never affects me quite in this manner. Even if most are undeniably handsome, I tend to blame it on them not really being my type.
Technically speaking, neither was this guy. And yet I found myself giddy like a schoolgirl on the inside, while pretending to be the capable professional.
The meeting room was unavailable, so we had to make do with the occasional seating near the kitchenette. He took a seat while I scurried off nervously to find a business card to give to him.
To be honest, I needed the moment to compose myself anyway.
Upon my return, he handed me his card from his leather conference folder. I knew I had to make an effort to listen to his sales patter, just in case he’d ask a question at the end of it. But I found myself yet again distracted, this time by his hands and his slender, perfectly manicured fingers.
His skin was flawless, but around his wrist I could see the beginning of a very impressive looking tattoo sleeve. I wondered how far up his arm and muscular shoulder the ink went. Whether the bad boy side of him would come out to play in a more intimate setting where the constraints of professionalism would no longer exist.
My short dress rode up nearly to the top of my thigh when I adjusted myself and crossed my legs. His eyes darted downwards just for a moment, making me quite pleased with my choice of outfit for the day.
He asked me about our industry and where in our business we might require his freight services and I tried my best to appear professional. Aiming to answer sensibly while the rational part of my brain was on autopilot.
But I’m a bad liar. And so was he.
While he spoke, I was mesmerised and involuntarily biting my bottom lip. I kept looking into his eyes which seemed to sparkle while he lost his train of thought and fumbled over his words. He caught himself and kept speaking, in response I continued to feign interest.
With a bunch of colleagues just around the corner, and two cleaners furiously working away around us, our meeting did not last very long.
I had nothing much to offer him in terms of business potential, but it was by no means a waste of time.
“If you ever need anything, just call me. I’m based nearby.” He took my hand once more, squeezing it slightly.
“I prefer to do business face-to-face rather than just on the phone.”
“Completely agree,” I responded while lingering on his amazingly deep eyes.
“It was lovely meeting you.” He smiled in a way that suggested he wasn’t just being polite.
My knees noticeably weakened, I returned a similarly revealing smile before seeing him out.
While I walked back towards my desk, I couldn’t disguise what had just happened. My ever-attentive colleague saw it all written on my face, prompting her to charge for the window in order to catch a glimpse.
When she returned, she gave me a nasty look.
“Next time, at least let me bring tea or coffee, al right!” She scolded.
I didn’t respond, just sat and stared at my screen.
“Say, can’t we start shipping more stuff…” I said, absent-mindedly, fidgeting with his business card.
The boss looked up, with a confused frown on her face.
“I want him to come visit again…” I continued.
While both of them chuckled, I couldn’t help but wonder if he’s on LinkedIn…
His green eyes stood out in his boyishly handsome face, complementing his medium brown hair. He kept a beard that was hardly more than a stubble, but it suited him so well that the effect could only have been intentional.
I stretched out my hand, waiting for his.
“Hi, I’m ***, thanks for coming by.” I think I managed a friendly, non-lecherous smile.
“Hi,” His hand held on to mine just long enough to make my heart skip a few beats.
My attention turned to his broad chest, perfectly filling out his grey suit as though he was the only one ever meant to wear it. Although a tie would have sharpened up his look, I was grateful for the slightest glimpse of what remained hidden beyond the unbuttoned collar of his shirt.
I wondered if it was mainly the mystery that was getting to me. Although I can most definitely appreciate a gorgeous man, the vast flow of shirtless models on my Facebook feed never affects me quite in this manner. Even if most are undeniably handsome, I tend to blame it on them not really being my type.
Technically speaking, neither was this guy. And yet I found myself giddy like a schoolgirl on the inside, while pretending to be the capable professional.
The meeting room was unavailable, so we had to make do with the occasional seating near the kitchenette. He took a seat while I scurried off nervously to find a business card to give to him.
To be honest, I needed the moment to compose myself anyway.
Upon my return, he handed me his card from his leather conference folder. I knew I had to make an effort to listen to his sales patter, just in case he’d ask a question at the end of it. But I found myself yet again distracted, this time by his hands and his slender, perfectly manicured fingers.
His skin was flawless, but around his wrist I could see the beginning of a very impressive looking tattoo sleeve. I wondered how far up his arm and muscular shoulder the ink went. Whether the bad boy side of him would come out to play in a more intimate setting where the constraints of professionalism would no longer exist.
My short dress rode up nearly to the top of my thigh when I adjusted myself and crossed my legs. His eyes darted downwards just for a moment, making me quite pleased with my choice of outfit for the day.
He asked me about our industry and where in our business we might require his freight services and I tried my best to appear professional. Aiming to answer sensibly while the rational part of my brain was on autopilot.
But I’m a bad liar. And so was he.
While he spoke, I was mesmerised and involuntarily biting my bottom lip. I kept looking into his eyes which seemed to sparkle while he lost his train of thought and fumbled over his words. He caught himself and kept speaking, in response I continued to feign interest.
With a bunch of colleagues just around the corner, and two cleaners furiously working away around us, our meeting did not last very long.
I had nothing much to offer him in terms of business potential, but it was by no means a waste of time.
“If you ever need anything, just call me. I’m based nearby.” He took my hand once more, squeezing it slightly.
“I prefer to do business face-to-face rather than just on the phone.”
“Completely agree,” I responded while lingering on his amazingly deep eyes.
“It was lovely meeting you.” He smiled in a way that suggested he wasn’t just being polite.
My knees noticeably weakened, I returned a similarly revealing smile before seeing him out.
While I walked back towards my desk, I couldn’t disguise what had just happened. My ever-attentive colleague saw it all written on my face, prompting her to charge for the window in order to catch a glimpse.
When she returned, she gave me a nasty look.
“Next time, at least let me bring tea or coffee, al right!” She scolded.
I didn’t respond, just sat and stared at my screen.
“Say, can’t we start shipping more stuff…” I said, absent-mindedly, fidgeting with his business card.
The boss looked up, with a confused frown on her face.
“I want him to come visit again…” I continued.
While both of them chuckled, I couldn’t help but wonder if he’s on LinkedIn…
Thursday 7 February 2013
I'm on Authorgraph, are you?
This morning I read an old blog post on writesexright.com about Authorgraph. I'd heard of it before but not really thought about joining. But then, over a steaming hot cup of tea this morning I figured it's free, let's give it a go.
In case you haven't heard of it yet, Authorgraph is a website that allows readers to request autographs from their favourite authors. It's free to join, and does look like loads of fun to me!
So I've added all my books. Not sure what, if anything, will come out of it. And I haven't got a clue what my autograph should look like either so I might have to do some quick thinking if someone actually requests one.
In case you haven't heard of it yet, Authorgraph is a website that allows readers to request autographs from their favourite authors. It's free to join, and does look like loads of fun to me!
So I've added all my books. Not sure what, if anything, will come out of it. And I haven't got a clue what my autograph should look like either so I might have to do some quick thinking if someone actually requests one.
Wednesday 6 February 2013
The Amazon Free Promotion Experiment; 2
Back in November I did a blog post about my first experience doing a free promotion with KDP Select on Amazon.
This initial free promotion was a bit of a failure considering I fell ill and didn't manage to tell a single person about my free book. However, the results were interesting, giving me a baseline for what to expect with zero promotion.
Just to recap, I managed to get a bunch of downloads;
Amazon.com - 87
Amazon.co.uk - 33 (one of these was me)
Amazon.de - 11
Amazon.fr - 1
And the book reached spot 98 in the Amazon UK Erotic Fiction Free Bestseller category.
This time, I'm giving away a different book, Just Another Day at the Office - I and I even have a bit of a cunning plan.
I cannot wait to see how this promo will play out!
Check back later, when I'll update this post with the results.
Amazon.com - 1887
Amazon.co.uk - 202 (one of these was me)
Amazon.de - 55
Amazon.fr - 2
Amazon.es - 2
Amazon.it - 1
Amazon.co.jp - 1
Amazon.ca - 7
Rankings:
#4 in Free Erotica on Amazon.com!
#9 in Free Erotica on Amazon.co.uk!
Reviews/Likes
I'll be honest, I am not sure how many likes I had before the promo so it would be hard to measure any effect. But on 6 and 7 February (while the book was free) I did manage to get two awesome reviews on Amazon.com and one on Goodreads. Also, a few people marked it as "to read" on Goodreads on the 6th.
Resulting sales
It's too early to tell if now that Just Another Day at the Office - I is no longer free, I might get sales based on how it performed in the rankings. I will post an update about this in a week or two. But, part two, which I launched at the same time as the free promo (with very limited marketing efforts comparatively) managed to achieve quite a few sales in these two days. Some will have been by readers who were already waiting for it to come out, but I suspect that a fair number were from people who may have wanted more of the same story after reading part one. I hope to see this trend continue in the coming weeks.
Verdict
This went way better than I expected! I never thought I'd get close to 1000 downloads, never mind exceeding 2100! And hopefully using the free giveaway as a hook to get readers to try out more of my work will pay off beyond these few days as well. I'll definitely do this again, whether with the same book or something new perhaps.
This initial free promotion was a bit of a failure considering I fell ill and didn't manage to tell a single person about my free book. However, the results were interesting, giving me a baseline for what to expect with zero promotion.
Just to recap, I managed to get a bunch of downloads;
Amazon.com - 87
Amazon.co.uk - 33 (one of these was me)
Amazon.de - 11
Amazon.fr - 1
And the book reached spot 98 in the Amazon UK Erotic Fiction Free Bestseller category.
This time, I'm giving away a different book, Just Another Day at the Office - I and I even have a bit of a cunning plan.
- I'm spamming the hell out of Facebook especially and to a lesser extent Twitter and Google+. If you're my FB friend, you might want to ignore me during this period, after getting your free copy of course!
- After reading the free book, readers who want to read more of my work can actually do so because I have more published (Last time the free book was my ONLY book).
- Just Another Day at the Office - I, obviously, is only the first part of a larger work. My free promo coincides with the launch of part two. Hopefully my free promo will hook readers into buying the next part.
- Compared to last time, I have some lovely writer friends who are helping to put the word out about this promo, and I even have some reviews already up on the book I'm giving away which should make it more attractive.
I cannot wait to see how this promo will play out!
Check back later, when I'll update this post with the results.
Please note when comparing figures that the first giveaway lasted only one day, the current one will last two days.
The results are in!
Downloads; 2157 in total!Amazon.com - 1887
Amazon.co.uk - 202 (one of these was me)
Amazon.de - 55
Amazon.fr - 2
Amazon.es - 2
Amazon.it - 1
Amazon.co.jp - 1
Amazon.ca - 7
Rankings:
#4 in Free Erotica on Amazon.com!
#9 in Free Erotica on Amazon.co.uk!
Reviews/Likes
I'll be honest, I am not sure how many likes I had before the promo so it would be hard to measure any effect. But on 6 and 7 February (while the book was free) I did manage to get two awesome reviews on Amazon.com and one on Goodreads. Also, a few people marked it as "to read" on Goodreads on the 6th.
Resulting sales
It's too early to tell if now that Just Another Day at the Office - I is no longer free, I might get sales based on how it performed in the rankings. I will post an update about this in a week or two. But, part two, which I launched at the same time as the free promo (with very limited marketing efforts comparatively) managed to achieve quite a few sales in these two days. Some will have been by readers who were already waiting for it to come out, but I suspect that a fair number were from people who may have wanted more of the same story after reading part one. I hope to see this trend continue in the coming weeks.
Verdict
This went way better than I expected! I never thought I'd get close to 1000 downloads, never mind exceeding 2100! And hopefully using the free giveaway as a hook to get readers to try out more of my work will pay off beyond these few days as well. I'll definitely do this again, whether with the same book or something new perhaps.
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