New Free Kindle Books

If you’ve thought about starting a blog or already have one that isn’t doing well, this is the book for you!

Lifestyle Blogging Basics: A How-To for Investing in Yourself, Working With Brands, and Cultivating a Community Around Your Blog by Laura Lynn

In this how-to guide for lifestyle blogging basics, Laura breaks down how she got started with her first blog, how she progressed to where she is now, and what failed attempts at success she made along the way.

The book begins with Laura covering the essential groundwork of discovering your niche, defining your content categories, choosing a blog name, selecting a platform, and creating a healthy and attainable blogging routine.

Then, she takes a deep dive into describing the the most effective ways to invest in yourself and your blog by explaining the importance of quality design, high resolution photos, email marketing services, and more.

You’ll also learn how to partner and collaborate with brands by building an online media kit, how to promote on social media, and how to create a thriving community around your blog that will stand the test of time.

About the author, Laura Lynn:

Laura is a Michigan native living in Nashville, Tennessee with her husband Steve. She’s a new author, lifestyle blogger, content creator, product development manager, amateur mandolinist, explorer, music lover, and impulsive decision maker. With a zest for adventure and a passion for learning, Laura makes it her personal goal to do or try something she’s never done on a regular basis.

If you’re an author and want to have your upcoming free eBooks listed here, fill out this form.

Here are some book reviews I’ve written for Indie authors with eBooks on Amazon. If you’re an author and would like to have your book reviewed, please send me an email with “Requesting a Kindle book review” as the subject to  jim@newfreekindlebooks.com. I’d love to add it to my “book reviews” page.

If you’re looking for book deals, here are some available now on Amazon.

Be sure to check out the other free eBooks available today!

Writing Powerful Descriptions

Start with the strapline or the hook for the story. Imagine you’re talking to someone who asks you, “So, what’s your book about?” Give them the important information. Tell them how the book will make them feel instead of telling them what it’s about. Make it exciting. Don’t say, “It’s about a guy living on the streets of downtown Denver in the middle of the winter.” Instead say, “Imagine you’re homeless, in the middle of a bone-chilling winter. Hungry and broke, not knowing where your next meal is coming from. What would you do?” Get to the real meat of the story, right away. Don’t be afraid to be original, this may be your only chance to get someone interested in your story. There are literally thousands they can choose from. Let them know why they should spend the time and money on yours.

Choosing Categories

Categories on Amazon are confusing, to say the least. But understanding them and placing your book in the correct one is essential. Imagine Amazon as a gigantic bookstore with over two million books. Walking in the front door, you head for the section, or category, that interests you.

Navigate through the Amazon departments to find a category that’s suitable for your book, but not very competitive. Amazon allows you to pick two categories. Let’s pick our first category:

Kindle Store › Kindle eBooks › Literature & Fiction › Action & Adventure › Mystery, Thriller & Suspense › Crime

If you use Amazon’s “Browse /Categories” function, you’ll be able to see how many books are in a category. Currently, there are over 600,000 books in the Literature & Fiction section. We don’t want to have to compete with all of them! In Action & Adventure, there are only 76,000. That’s better, but it’s still a lot. If we drill down one more layer, we see there are only 17,000 eBooks in the Mystery, Thriller & Suspense category. That’s more like it!

Finding Competitive Keywords

The next thing we’ll work on is your keywords. These are search terms your potential buyers use when looking for a book. Amazon keeps its actual algorithm secret but it says that your book’s title and description is already used as search terms so you shouldn’t repeat them. If you’re still writing your book and haven’t determined a title yet, you might consider doing some keyword research first and adding the result in your title.

You’re allowed to use seven keywords or keyword strings for your book. To determine what buyers are searching for, you can use Amazon’s database.

You might not realize that much like Google, Amazon has a fantastic keyword tool.  You may have typed in a keyword in the Google search bar and seen suggestions come up. Amazon has the same function. Go to the search bar on the Amazon site, navigate to the “Kindle Store,” from the dropdown arrow, and then start typing something. Let’s say your book is about a man whose wife is murdered. If you type in “murder,” Amazon’s look-ahead feature gives you its first suggestion, “Murder Mystery.”

Amazon Author Page

The Author Page is your chance to tell readers something interesting about yourself, so make sure you include any details about your background, awards you have won, and other books you have written. You should include any personal details customers might want to know. Think about which blog posts or “tweets” you’ve written which have gotten the most interest. This is who you are; share your information with your readers.

Your author photo doesn’t need to be professionally created, but should be a high-resolution image for quality display. I suggest having a good head shot of yourself and using it on all of your social media accounts. After seeing the picture on the internet, people will eventually recognize you and instinctively trust you. You can add up to eight images, and choose the order in which they appear.

Receiving Reviews

Having friends and relatives review your book may seem like a good idea at first, but in the end, it isn’t worth the trouble. Either they won’t do it or the review they leave sounds fake or paid for. So, how do you get reviews? I’m glad you asked. Here are a few ideas that have worked for me including links to Facebook groups dedicated to review swaps, author/reader groups to join, and information about a search engine that searches for professional book reviews.

Kindle “Free Days” Promotion

If you’re using KDP Select, you can determine whether you want to have your book go free or use the new Countdown Promotion.

Included is a list of 50 websites that will list your free or discounted eBook. If you’re using Select, coordinate with your free days, giving them at least a week in advance notice. Most of these offer their services free, some for a small charge.

So, if you’re new to eBook promotion and marketing, or looking for some new tips, let’s

Sell More Books!

Kathleen McClure’s eBook has 35 reviews on Amazon with an average rating of 4.5 stars.

Soldier of Fortune: A Gideon Quinn Adventure: Book One of The Fortune Chronicles by Kathleen McClure

On the planet Fortune, tech is low, tensions high and heroes… unlikely.

Wrongly convicted of treason, Gideon Quinn spent six years harvesting crystal under the killing suns of the Morton Barrens. When a general of the Corps arrives with an offer of freedom and the chance to clear his name, Gideon doesn’t have to think twice. With his pet draco Elvis on his shoulder, Gideon takes ‘ship for Nike City on a quest for justice (or, failing that, revenge). What he finds is a dodger named Mia, a city steeped in corruption, and a menace at the heart of the Corps which could bring Fortune’s new and fragile peace to an explosive end.

And that’s just his first night in town.

About the author, Kathleen McClure:

Former actor and fight choreographer (and constant 14 year old), Kathleen has always been fiercely engaged by rip-roaring, escapist adventures.

That said, it’s no surprise she launched her novel-writing career with The Fortune Chronicles, an ode to the adventures she’s been devouring since the age of four, when her mother took her to see Romeo and Juliet (Zeffirelli’s version) and watched Mercutio, Tybalt and Romeo clashing swords.

Every so often, Kathleen has company in writing the planet Fortune, as can be seen in Outrageous Fortune, where she’s joined by co-author Kelley McKinnon.

And outside the Fortune Chronicles, Kathleen is venturing into deeper, darker territory in The Zodiac Files, (a series she gleefully nicknamed “Spies! In Space!”) with fellow author L. Gene Brown.

Kathleen McClure has short stories published in Timeless Tales Magazine, Lorelei Signals and, with K. Ceres Wright, contributed to Diner Stories: Off the Menu, an anthology celebrating the American Diner. Of course Ceres and Kathleen put their diner in space because the only thing more interesting than Spies! In Space! are Milkshakes! In Space! (Kathleen was often hungry while writing The Last Stop).

She currently lives in Austin, TX with her patient and endlessly supportive husband, two consistently entertaining teens and three cats who take turns getting in the way of the keyboard.

Visit Kathleen Mclure’s website: http://kathleen-mcclure.com

If you’re an Indie author and would like to have your book listed, fill out this form.