What people are saying about 'Memories Of...'

What People Say

 Review are coming in for 'Memories Of...' and I'd just like to say THANK YOU to those who take the time to write a review rather than just ticking a box.

Kindle customers love 'Memories Of...' too -

"History meets Fiction in a seamless blend! Love it! - A feel good story in which we catch up with our old friend John whilst using fiction to redeem one of the biggest injustices in American history. Once again Carol M Mottershead makes history her playground in this amazingly detailed retelling of historical events. C'est Magnifique!"

Why's everyone speaking to me in French? 😆Not that I mind, as long as everyone enjoys the story!

We're back to Amazon for this one from a reader called McFarlane - 

"A real window on to history in an engaging love story - I really enjoyed the attention to detail in this novel, which gave a real sense of place and time to an exciting romp of a love story. It took me to a place in history, about which I previously knew very little, and really set the scene to enjoy the twists in the unfolding story. A good read!"

There's more twists and turns to come, so keep uptodate by joining my email list!

Goodreads reader Alun Littlefair loved 'Memories Of...' too with this review -

"A feel good story in which we catch up with our old friend John whilst using fiction to redeem one of the biggest injustices in American history. Once again Carol M Mottershead makes history her playground in this amazingly detailed retelling of historic events. C'est Magnifique!"

Just goes to show, my books are enjoyed by both women AND men - Thanks Alun!

Susan Lake left her review on Facebook, but that's OK, it doesn't matter where the word is spread, she gave a lovely review -

"Well worth a read, a beautiful love story. Set in a time when hope and love, were precious".

Glad you enjoyed it Susan!

A lady calling herself LizFev, an Amazon reader responded with "Great follow on book, so captivating. Not disappointed, just as an enjoyable read as "Joan put in your happy face". I enjoyed the relationships developing, the historical element made me think and reflect on my understanding. Another fantastic read, I hope there is more to follow". 

There certainly will be more Liz, just watch this space!

"What a nice love story, Carol." said Tom Edwards, Director of Gwynn's Island Museum before he went on to add a spoiler alert "A happy ending for all". 

Thanks Tom, lol!

Want to keep uptodate about my writing? Join my email list at carol.m.mottershead@gmail.com today

If you've not read any of my books yet, you can purchase copies of paperbacks on any good online bookstore or as an ebook on Amazon. Also available in Kindle Unlimited

My books are both available on Amazon sites worldwide, just sign into your nearest Amazon story

"JOAN Put on a happy face"

"Memories Of..." 

Don't forget, a few words of feedback it much better at spreading the word than a click.

Add your reviews at

For "JOAN Put on a happy face" Click Here

For "Memories Of..." Click Here

 HAPPY READING!

Chapter 13 - How's the new book 'Memories Of...' coming along?

' Memories Of...' 

by Carol M Mottershead

So how's the new book coming along?

Well, I have to admit 'Memories Of...' has been off to a bad start! Not because it's a rotten book but because there has been changes in the way Amazon runs things with regards to categorizing of books! It's been all over the place since the new book launched... Lots of authors and specialists in Amazon algorithms have been struggling to get to grips with the way the new algorithms work! 

The first thing to change was instead of being able to upload ten categories... two basic categories and eight additional categories added via KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) they claimed that they were 'improving' categorization; they were giving us the chance to choose three basic categories yayy!!😍 But then came the catch... there NO MORE THAN THE THREE! 😞

Now it seems, Amazon algorithms decide what categories to place our books in!

For this I would like to apologize to any readers who may feel mislead by choosing a book from a category that doesn't fit the book... it is beyond the control of any of the authors!

I'm told by teamsters from Bryan Cohen's Ad School, that this is by no means a personal problem. Everyone who changed to the new categorization have been affected. (Some authors didn't do it until Ad School advised it), but I thought I was being 'uptodate' and ahead of everyone else - I went ahead in ignorance, and my poor book 'Memories Of...' has got caught in the changes 😔

Amazon ad campaigns which I pay for 'per click' aren't working and the only sales being generated are from posts on social media that I've put out myself, which are free - crazy isn't it?

Amazon dot com have even stopped blogs being posted on the Amazon site now, so I don't even know if anyone gets to read these blogs, ha!

But for anyone who is enjoying reading blogs, I hope you'll check out my books

Memories Of... (HERE) and JOAN put on a happy face (HERE)

   

Memories Of...: 17th Century Historical Fiction set in Colonial America eBook : Mottershead, Carol M: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

Joan - Put on a happy face: (A highly unique and imaginative mix of history and fiction) eBook : Mottershead, Carol M: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

If you've already read a copy of my books and want to review, drop an email

carol.m.mottershead@gmail.com

or add it to the site from which you bought it, that would fantastic - and THANK YOU!

If you enjoy a different genre such as Epic Fantasy, check out the books by Susan and John Ruff

Susan and John Ruff, Authors | This is a site dedicated to the fiction writing of authors Susan and John Ruff

'Til Next Time - HAPPY READING! 😄

Chapter 12 - So who won the battle to be heard next?

 I've said from the very beginning that I have never dreamed in my wildest dream I'd be a writer. I can't believe, even now, that I have written and published two books, but I have and I've really enjoyed the journey!

To my mind, fiction has got to be the most rewarding sort of writing. Your mind is free to write whatever it wants to write... of is it? That's what I used to believe, haha!

In reality, it's the characters in your book that seem to come to life. Their story pops into your head and you find yourself 'having' to write their story! It's strange but true!

So who won through to be the lead protagonist in my next book?

I had thought it was going to be young Nicholas, but I was wrong. His half-brother young John had more to tell. You may remember that young John left Joan, Pulcinella and his brother young Nicholas to seek adventure in the colonies of America. As he boarded the ship, he had been asked his name - 'John' he'd said, then called out to Punchinella (as he always called his Father) just at the same time that the boson asked for his last name. Hearing the name Punch, that's what was written down - John Punch (OK it's a bit of a stretch, but it's literary licence - right!)

Anyway, I found that there was a real person called John Punch who had lived in the Virginian colony during the exact same period, so I chose to research his life and make it the basis for my second book. That seemed fair enough.

As it turned out, the 'real' John Punch is quite famous in his own way. He is known as the first slave of Virginia, the 11th generation great grandfather of Barack Obama (first black President in USA) on his mother's side, and the 10th generation great grandfather of Ralphe Bunch (first African American to win a nobel peace prize) on his father's side, quite a famous family!

To my good fortune, despite his fame, there are only two recorded documents that even prove he existed. Many of the records in that area of Virginia were burned to the ground leaving me carte blanche to make up a fictional life for John. It's been great too, for although only two documents exist for John himself, the owner of his indentures 'Hugh Gwynn' has much written about him one way or another. Married twice with two children by his first wife and one by a lover, later to become his wife and long lost love of his life. Haha! There was definitely a story brewing and the story has been written.

'Memories Of...' by Carol M Mottershead

tells the life and memories of John Punch, his family and friends. It's currently available only on Amazon but will be joining the expanded distribution shortly. I hope you'll enjoy reading this romantic historical and biographical fiction - HAPPY READING!

If you've not yet read the story of 'JOAN - put on a happy face' by Carol M Mottershead CLICK HERE and once again - HAPPY READING!

If you have already read a copy of 'JOAN - put on a happy face' by Carol M Mottershead maybe you would be kind enough to spread the word and write a review on Amazon, Goodreads or on the site you bought your copy from and help a poor starving writer to become a number one best seller! haha!

All the best, til next time... Keep smiling!

Chapter 11 - My next book

 Who will be the central character of my next book?

As I was writing 'JOAN', ideas for a next book would pop into my mind.  Back stories of each character. I made notes on who and what came into my train of thought. I didn't intend to write another book when I started, but I guess the characters got jealous ha! 

Judy and Mr Punch aka Joan and Pulcinella are characters everyone thinks they know all about already, but not the way I'm writing their story. They're not puppets, like in that film 'Judy and Punch' that came out in November 2018. It was interesting to watch... once, and I 'loved' the twist right at the end giving a reason why Punch and Judy went from being performed with marionettes to being performed with hand puppets - that was a jewel! ha! I won't tell you about the ending, but let's just say it was the best bit of the film... to me anyway! 😊

I might write a short story for each of the characters, their back story, what makes each of them tick. I say short, but that depends a great deal on just how much they want their story to be told, some times they get so self-absorbed you know 😊(No... I'm not crazy, I'm just an author and our characters come to life for us lol!)

As you probably realize by now, my story's theme is the puppet show known as Punch and Judy. It's a traditional iconic show, and a favourite seaside puppet show that's been loved by children for over 450 years, so almost all the characters in my story have their own reason for being, and they have their own back story. The difference is that JOAN is immortal. Her family have a secret that Joan knows nothing about. My story is a mystery waiting to unfold with each book bringing the reader just a little closer to the whole truth and nothing but the truth... in my imaginings at least.👍😉

I don't want the blog to be too long, or for you to get bored with my ramblings, I have got a head cold as I write, so I do apologize haha! 

Remember - Joan is available at many online bookstores already

       Amazon   Blackwells   Barnes & Noble   Waterstones

Memories Of... is still being released and is, at the moment, only available on

Amazon  AllAuthor and Author Central

Oops! I gave it away! 😂👍Hope you like it

Happy Reading and Put on your happy face!

Chapter 10 - Don't stand and wait!

 Don't Stand And Wait!

The first thing you learn after publishing your book is you don't just sit on it and wait! The readers won't buy your book if you don't let them know its published and that's when the hard part starts.

For a while I was just putting a post on social media starting with Facebook and Twitter, but then added LinkedIN, Instagram, YouTube, then I found there was still more... Pinterest, Tumblr, Reddit, and more recently TikTok... and there's even more!! It was exhausting! I was spending more time marketing than I was writing the next book, it was tiring!

Bryan's Ad School took over for a while too... learning how to choose the right keywords to advertise and keep them 'relevant' (not what's a major keyword - relevant!) What is relevant? When I learn fully what relevant means I'll let you know. But just get the ads going is what Ad School tell you. Get the book shown to potential readers of your genre (oh! there's the relevancy haha!) 

Like any advertising, the more  people see the name of a product the more curious they become and that's one of the first things to learn... Readers won't always buy your book the first time they see it advertised, they may need to see it a few times, so play the long game, be patient 'zen lemur' Bryan calls it. Don't expect miracles and learn to be patient. A writer doesn't become famous overnight after all ha! 

So I made my ad campaigns on Amazon in both the US and the UK never bidding too high as Amazon suggested (and which I did my first time of advertising and cost me £100 in two weeks! lol!) NO! Bryan in his profit challenges advises to bid low: 34c for a standalone and 39c for a first in the series, In the UK he suggests 16p, it's more affordable for authors, but I'm not so sure Amazon like it haha! 

There's more to learn from Ad School but that's for students who have signed up to his course, so I'm not allowed to discuss that in my blog. Needless to say, his course will and methods will help to identify why a book isn't selling and what you can do about it. Why do you think I changed my book cover and description lol!

Moving on - next time I'll tell you about my next book, working title 'Memories of John Punch'

If you've not yet bought a copy of 'Joan - put on a happy face' here's the link

If you have already bought read and enjoyed my book, maybe you could write a review here? 👌

I hope you enjoy reading my blogs. I've written them for my pleasure, but if they help anyone then my efforts have been well worth it. Happy reading and don't forget... Keep smiling! 😊

      

Chapter 9 The Making of 'JOAN' - Bryan Cohen's Ad School Challenge

Bryan Cohen's Ad School Challenge

... nd every three months

Well here we are again. I thought I had it all in the bag and knew what I was doing and where I was going, but I couldn't have been further from the truth!

Sales of books, once friends and family had done their part, came to a standstill.  I was so fed up... I wanted to pack it all in. What do I do now? Where do I go? Who do I ask for help? 

I hadn't got money to waste and there's a lot of vultures out there just waiting for newbie indie authors to join their social media pages. Yes - many of those social media pages where authors are encouraged to join 'to meet and be able to interact with other authors' ha! They're a breeding ground for vultures. Gathering their prey into safe 'private groups' where they can find potential clients and DM them. Social media seemed a great idea until you realise that most of them aren't open to the public and let's face it, the public are the readers, not other authors, and certainly not the vultures marketing companies that swoop down onto their wannabe prey!

As you can tell, I got pretty disillusioned.

I watched video's, I sat through webinars that I'd heard of on social media sites, and they all gave just a little bit of good advice before swooping in with their sales pitch! Every time!

I tried doing amazon advertising. You have to place a 'bid' ie a price that you're prepared to pay per click and they vary for every 'keyword' you choose to use, and yes, I got burned... almost £100 later and no sales in two weeks I gave up! 

THEN a few months later, I saw Bryan Cohen's Amazon Ads Profit Challenge! My first reaction was 'oh yeah here we go again' but what had I to lose but my time? So I did the 2-week challenge. Followed through with the homework they set, watched the video's they suggested I watched and... no change! Not within those first two weeks.

Bryan Cohen does these profit challenges every three months. Authors at any stage of their career, solitary books, multiple books any size of authorship are all welcome and for two whole weeks they can ask Bryan's team ANY QUESTION THEY WANT! And the offer is genuine! I thought WOW! This is a rareness in itself!

I joined in the next time. There had been a nibble or two since the previous time and, because his  method of bidding for ad space is not to throw money at ads, but to take the zen lemur approach and take it slowly, I was able to afford to advertise for longer. People were getting to see my book on the amazon book shelves at least - that was a good step in the right direction. What's the point of writing a book then sticking it on a shelf and not showing it to readers? My book was at least getting seen and we all know how advertising works... people see something often enough, they wonder what it's all about and eventually they want to give it a try! 

Ad School sounded interesting. The support offered sounded interesting, but I couldn't afford it.  But they still invite you to join them again the next time and they will still give their advice totally free for two weeks every three months... you can't argue with that!

As it turned out, I won a place with ad school... Me? I never win anything! I couldn't believe it! I've been with them ever since and it's not plain sailing I have to admit, but their support, their advice... I'm glad they're there.  I'll keep you informed of when I become a famous author, but in the meantime, it's on with writing my next book.

Joan-put on a happy face is the first of a series - so watch this space :-)

Joan: Put on a Happy face (a fascinating tale of history and fiction) eBook : Mottershead, Carol M: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

If you want to ask questions or just keep in touch email me at carol.m.mottershead@gmail.com

Happy reading!

Chapter 8 The Making of 'Joan' - Marketing my book

Marketing my book 

When you've published your book with Kindle Direct Publishing the next thing they expect you to do is advertise on the Amazon sites. The initial sales page set up is like their publishing - totally free until you get a sale. Even then, I think they're pretty reasonable giving the author 60% royalties less print costs for paperback and hardcover and 70% on eBooks - wow! Compared to traditional publishing and vanity publishing, they're great.

Unfortunately, marketing of a book is the hardest part of all! With traditional publishers they do all the marketing for you, the hard work, the social media, the emails, all done by themselves - at a cost of course! Nothing is totally free when marketing.

It's all well and good publishing a book and putting it on the shop floor ie in this instance the Amazon sales page, but that doesn't make people pick it out of the millions of other books and buy a copy. A sad fact indeed. That's where the cost comes into it. 

Amazon will have you paying the highest prices for bids on advertising your book, believe me, I tried it their way and lost a lot of money (well a lot of money to me lol!)

Bryan Cohen's Ads Profit Challenge was like a breath of fresh air. He showed me how to spend less to be able to advertise more until the sales started to come in. 'The Profit Challenge' is exactly that - a challenge!

For me, the only sales still seemed to be from word of mouth and eventually mouths stop spreading the word lol! I didn't know what was wrong with my book. Why didn't anyone want to buy a copy to read?

Bryan Cohen's Ad School helped me identify where the problems could lie... The first port of call was getting the correct genres - a nightmare for me, it felt, because my book covers so many tropes.

Tropes are storylines for example, in 'Joan put on a happy face' you have tropes such as:

A young girl loses her mother at an impressionable age

A young girl marries an older man, a vagrant, an actor, against her fathers wishes.

A young wife and mother battles with post-natal depression while her husband works all the time.

A young mother uses play therapy to help her young son express himself

A young girl with poor self esteem fights her way into the world of adults, becomes an a travelling performer and a learns to become forceful woman, a woman to reckon with

A wife whose husband turns to drink and drugs and becomes lazy and irresponsible

A wife who is struck by her husband and left to die in hospital, taking their son with him.

A husband who kills his best friend and suffers with depression bordering on madness out of guilt

A husband who suffers post traumatic stress after leading his troupe of actors through wars and death as an immortal who wants to but cannot die!

The tropes go on... I had to start somewhere.

After that, they taught me how to look for other reasons for lack of sales and we looked at my book cover to begin with. This...

eventually became this...

Which do you like best? Let me know in the comments...

In the meantime, til next time, here's another link to the paperback

'Joan - put on a happy face' by Carol M Mottershead

Happy Reading!