Feb 2 2014

Still in Need of Motivation

Back on the 6th of January, I wrote a post about keeping the fires burning, and how I was going to use Seinfeld’s method to write every day. Now that the month is over, I thought I would post a photo showing my progress, and in all honesty, I find it a little depressing. I mean, I’m a writer, yet I only managed to write on 6 days out of the month. (The red crosses mean writing, the green crosses mean exercise)

So does this mean this method doesn’t work for me? Well, not necessarily. I think perhaps if I managed to get a few more crosses in a row I would be less likely to want to break the chain. But it does feel like my usual methods to motivate myself to write aren’t working anymore.

Now you may be reading this and thinking – ‘Well perhaps you shouldn’t be a writer then’, and I wouldn’t blame you, to be honest. I have questioned my choice to write books many times, even though deep down, I have always known that it wasn’t really a choice. I am a writer. There is no way out of it. But that doesn’t mean that it’s always easy.

I will continue to cross off the days that I write (and exercise), because it is good to have a visual reminder of what I have achieved each month. And I hope that by the end of February, I will have created a longer chain. I will post a photo in 27 days!

And if I find any other methods for motivating myself that work, I will let you know what they are.

(Just to clarify, the only writing I am counting as part of my chain-making is writing my new novel. I don’t count any other writing towards this goal.)

Jan 22 2014

Universal Book Links

Last year I was told about universal book links by an American reader who had clicked on my amazon.co.uk link. He’d had to then go to amazon.com and search for my book before buying it, so he suggested that I get myself a universal link from Booklinker.net. I did just that, and have done so for all of my books, and for my author page too. Having a universal link means that wherever someone is in the world, when they click on it, they are taken to the Amazon page that belongs to their country. Booklinker is free to use and their customer service is excellent. I have recommended doing this to all of the authors I have worked with.

My stats for The Other Side

Until I received an email from Booklinker today that mentioned stats, I didn’t realise that there was more to the site then meets the eye. When I logged in, I could see how many times each of my links have been clicked on, and from which countries these clicks have come from. Seeing as Amazon release no figures on how many views your book pages get, this has been quite interesting information to have.

Now to work out how to make more of these views convert to sales… If you have any ideas, please comment below!

Jan 1 2014

The Elphite only $1.99 on Kindle!

Just wanted to let all of my American readers know that they can get a copy of The Elphite on Kindle for just $1.99. It’s for a limited amount of time though, so grab your copy now!

Dec 30 2013

A New Vision for 2014

In less than 30 hours, the new year will have begun. I feel that 2012 was a year of destruction (of old ways, old patterns and old relationships) 2013 was a year of transformation (finding new paths and new ways of being) and 2014, in my mind, is the year of making things happen. Of creating the reality that we actually want to live in.

In order to prepare for a year of making it happen, I feel that it’s important to have a clear vision. The clearer you are about where you want to go, what you want to do and accomplish, the better the reality you will create.

So, to begin with, I have my Vision Board, which I created with my publishing partner and long-time friend – Liz Lockwood.

Creating a vision board (or diary – I did a diary for 2013, and many of the things in there came to fruition, but that’s another blog post!) is very simple. You put pictures, photos, sketches, words etc on a board. Preferably in a place where you will see it often, so as to remind yourself to keep your activities in line with you dreams and goals. My board is currently propped up on my desk. I will probably stick it on the wall next to me. Having photos of yourself on the board is important – so that you are placing yourself in that reality.

The other thing you could do is simply sketch it. You don’t need to be an artist to do this, stick figures are fine. I watched this great TED talk the other day, where a lady called Patti Drobrowolski demonstrates how to do this.

http://youtu.be/A7KRSCyLqc4

This was my attempt at sketching my desired future!

So as you can see, no artistic skills required! But it was good to clarify things, to decide what I wanted.

Tomorrow is Marketing Plan day. and I plan to figure out how to market my books, and how to structure my time more efficiently. Which means that by the time January 1st rolls around, I will have in place everything I need to make things happen in 2014.

What are you going to make happen?

Dec 24 2013

Merry Christmas Eve!

My stocking is out ready, is yours??

Well, it’s certainly been a very interesting year, and I don’t know if I am sad or relieved to see it end. I spent the first five months of the year living out of my suitcase, as I travelled to California, Hong Kong, around the UK, Oregon and then London! By May I was feeling a little worn out, but at the same time, I felt ready to make things happen. It was after attending Unleash the Power Within with Tony Robbins, and walking on fire, that I finally decided to go for it, and make a living doing what I enjoyed, not doing something that drained me.

Pretty much the day after making this decision, I got my first project, helping the awesome Adrian Incledon-Webber with publishing his first book – Heal Your Home. More projects soon came along, as my authors began recommending me to others, and word of mouth about my Amethyst Angel Indie Publishing servicesspread.

Then in July, after 6 months apart, my partner, (and Twin Flame) met up again, and decided to get back together. And I’ve been living with him in our little hideaway in the woods ever since, feeling like I am now finally home.

I finished the latest novel in the Earth Angel series, The Other Side, in September, and released in it November. It was a tough one to write, but I got there in the end. Seeing as I only managed to write one novel this year, I plan to publish two novels and a poetry anthology next year, so along with all the new publishing projects I have been taking on recently, it looks like it will be a very busy year indeed! At the moment I am very pleased to be working with the lovely Lori Lesko, on her book – Copyright – A Novel. Keep an eye out for it!

Also in the pipeline for next year, is to begin creating audio books, re-vamping and republishing The Doorway to PAM, and doing more regular oracle card readings and other videos. Oh, and I have a big birthday in January too… I am both excited and a little wary, but I know it will be an amazing year, no matter what my age is 🙂

But before all of that, I plan to have a wonderfully chilled-out Christmas, and I hope you do too! Thank you for following my blog, and for supporting me by buying and reading my books, it is all very much appreciated.

Love and light,

Michelle.xx

Dec 6 2013

The Best Christmas Gift!

You might remember that back in March this year, I attended the Spiritual Renewal Retreat in Oregon – which is four and a half days with Neale Donald Walsch. During the session on the Friday, I had the chance to speak to Neale, to thank him for running the free retreat, which had enabled me to be able to attend. He asked me what I did, and I told him that I was a Spiritual Fiction Author. He asked for the title of a book I had written, and I replied ‘The Earth Angel Training Academy’.

He said he wanted to read the book, so the following day, I took in a copy I had with me (as I was about to begin writing The Other Side, and had taken it with me for research purposes). I gave it to Neale, who was very excited to be receiving gifts (at the same time, he was receiving a signed CD from the drummer of the Turtles, who was also on the retreat).

On the last day, the Sunday, we all gathered in the room, and I was sitting at the front. As Neale began the session, he pointed at me, and said ‘You!’ He then turned to the rest of the group, and told them that if he looked a bit bleary that day, it was because he had stayed up until 2am to read my book! He told everyone that they should all get a copy, but not to read it at night if they wanted to get any sleep!

Will Richardson, Neale’s friend and the President and Director of Programs at the CWG Foundation, also read The Earth Angel Training Academy, and The Elphite, both of which he reviewed on Amazon for me.

I didn’t want to bother Neale for a review, as I know he is a very busy man, but I was eager to know what he had thought after he had finished reading the book, so I e-mailed him yesterday and asked him for his thoughts.

I never expected to receive a reply so quickly, but I woke up this morning to find his e-mail, and needless to say, have been very happy since!

Here it is –

“The Earth Angel Training Academy packs wonderful and ancient truth into an imaginatively original tale that both delights and enlightens. The result: a read that is both fun and inspiring.” — Neale Donald Walsch

It was the best Christmas gift I could have asked for. If you would like to buy a copy of The Earth Angel Training Academy as a gift for someone this Christmas, there is still plenty of time! You can get one here.

Have a wonderful day!

Nov 21 2013

Calling all Angels…

…Faeries, Mermaids, Old Souls, Starpeople and Leprechauns!

I’ve written this blog post several times in my head, which is where I would rather it stay, but I know that I need to actually type it and put it out there. Because this blog post is about the truth. Which is that I need help.

You would think that by the time I’d written and published my 7th book, (not to mention helped to publish several books for other authors) that I would know how to market them. That I would have an established way of launching my books so that they made an impact, that I would be selling hundreds, if not thousands of copies.

But the truth is, I’m just as bad at marketing now, as I was when I began. Why? Because traditional marketing does not feel authentic to me. I am a great believer that people find a book at the right time for them to read it, and if they’re constantly blasted with messages of – you must buy this book right now – then it will just irritate them if it’s not the right time.

I figured it might be a good idea to get some help with the marketing, so I found a PR company who would write a press release and send it out to journalists for me. They wrote the piece, and though it sounded good, in all honesty, I couldn’t read it without giggling, because it bigged me up so much, that it seemed a little ridiculous. At the time, I was still in – ‘this is how you market stuff, you make it look like the next big thing’ mode, and so I approved it for them to send. Didn’t receive a single email, call or query about it, and to be perfectly honest, I don’t expect to. Why? Because it was not authentic. If you would like a good giggle yourself, please check it out on the only place I’ve seen it online. (Click here) (Just to add, the company were great to work with, very professional, and very good at what they do. I have no complaints about the service I received)

I’ve been doing the Brene Brown eCourse, and one of the main threads (because that has been her main focus for her research) is vulnerability. We build armor around ourselves, making up stories about things, so that others perceive us in a certain way. I know that there are a few people out there who assume that I am selling loads of books and make a ton of money. And though it’s nice that they think highly of me and my books, it’s just not the truth.

So back to what I said before. I need help. I know there are readers out there who have read and loved my books, who have not written reviews or recommended them to friends. If you are one of those people and you are able to, could you please do that for me? Reviews on Amazon really do make a difference, and you can write one there even if you bought the book directly from me or from a shop I sell them in. If you don’t have an Amazon account, then you can post a review in the comments below or on Facebook. If you are on Facebook, you can like my page and share it with others who might like my books.

If you haven’t bought your Christmas presents yet, you could buy a copy of one of my books as a gift. With the new covers, the Earth Angel books now look really awesome. You can also still buy the Oracle Cards that accompany the books, directly through me on my website, or from Peace of Stone in Monmouth.

All of these things help to just make my books a little more visible and accessible, and word of mouth recommendations are far better than this false marketing that I have been attempting to do. After all, I know that my books will not appeal to everyone, I don’t want to sell millions of books only for them to be read by just a few. I write books for them to be read, for them to help people. But I can only do that with the help of my readers. To make it easier to share the links to my books on amazon, I have universal links to them all, which make it easier when tweeting or posting on Facebook. I’ve listed the links below. Even a tweet every now and then helps 🙂

Thank you for reading, and for letting me share this with you. I don’t find it easy to ask for help, and to admit that I don’t know how to do something, but I can’t keep on pretending like it’s all easy and taken care of. And as much as I wish I could sometimes, I really cannot do it all on my own.

viewbook.at/earthangeltrainingacademy

viewbook.at/earthangelawakening

viewbook.at/otherside

viewbook.at/theelphite

viewbook.at/doorwaytopam

viewauthor.at/michellegordon

Nov 13 2013

The Other Side is here!

You can now buy The Other Side on Amazon! Get in on Kindle or in paperback. (Please ignore the reviews, Amazon have somehow mixed by book up with another book by an author called Mary Gordon! I’m hoping they’ll sort it out soon!)

To celebrate, here is a book trailer for the series, which features the amazing song – ‘Ready When You Get Here’ by Bobby Andonov. I found the song by chance and realised that it described the idea of Twin Flames perfectly, and really fit the stories of the characters in the Earth Angel series. I listened to it on repeat while writing The Other Side. Please check out his other music, he is awesome.

The Launch Party is happening on Facebook, come and join us 🙂

Nov 12 2013

Twas the Night Before the Launch…

And Michelle was ridiculously excited!

In just a few hours, The Other Side will be officially launched into the world and I am very excited, though a little nervous at the same time! Having only finished writing this book 7 weeks ago, it feels like it’s been a crazy sprint to bring it to publication.

Today I recorded a couple of videos to post on the page of the Online Launch Party on facebook tomorrow (please join us!) and I will also be posting the Book Trailer I created for my books and there will be some interactive stuff, so check it out and join in 🙂

There’s still time to enter the Rafflecopter draw – you could win a signed set of the Earth Angel Books!

I will be having a second Launch at Peace of Stone in Monmouth on Tuesday the 26th November at 7pm. It’s a join launch with Adrian Incledon-Webber. His book – Heal your Home – is a must-have for every home. There will be drinks and nibbles and everyone is welcome to join us.

In case you’ve managed to miss it so far, here is the beautiful cover for my new book – (yes, I really am over-excited!)

Nov 7 2013

The countdown to The Other Side begins!

Only 6 days to go! Yesterday, the proof copies arrived. I was incredibly excited to see the new covers on The Earth Angel Training Academy and The Earth Angel Awakening, and to see The Other Side for the first time. I think the three of them look amazing together as a series, and I’m very pleased with how they look, thanks to Liz and Jason.

I’m just giving the proof copy of The Other Side a check through for last minute errors, but as a sneaky tip to anyone reading this – the new editions of Academy and Awakening in paperback are already available on Amazon 🙂 The Kindle versions and Smashwords versions with new covers will be ready by the official launch next Wednesday.