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This week on the Roundtable we welcome author Stacy Claflin. Stacy is a prolific writer with over a dozen published works. She has recently made the leap to full-time after running a successful day-care business. We wanted our viewers to get some insight in how Stacy decided to make that leap. She has been on the indie scene for quite some time and has strong followings in social media. Stacy is best known for her paranormal romance series the Transformed, however she does genre hop. Her stories consistently have a suspense element and often revolve around abduction or kidnapping. When she is not busy writing, Stacy likes spending time with family and friends. She also stays busy home schooling her two children. You can find out more about Stacy’s stories here: http://stacyclaflin.com/books and connect with her here: http://www.facebook.com/stacy.claflin.author
Who will be first tonight? Hmmm…
writerwade You? Hey Wade.
I’m here : )
*skids in*
Made it! 🙂
PatrickStemp writerwade Hi Patrick
michelleread Hi Michelle!
Hallo
PatrickStemp michelleread Hi Patrick! Hold me accountable for 5K next week?
CateMorgan Woo hoo!!
MrJohnRead Hey John – love the Terry Gilliam avatar.
Stacy! Stacy! Stacy!
And we’re live!
RChazzChute You’ve met!
michelleread PatrickStemp Okee Dokee 😉 Book 4?
PatrickStemp michelleread Yarp! Wanna name it, too??
PatrickStemp MrJohnRead I have…..no idea what that is.
michelleread RChazzChute Never spoken but I know she’s read and reviewed one of my books. Which makes her awesome.
Thank you good sir
michelleread PatrickStemp Yes! Mothers…Partners…Descendants…hmmm…putting my thinking cap on – but of course I’ll need to know a little more first 🙂
Let a review on iTunes this week for SPRT.
@michelleread You’re fired
MrJohnRead Noted
MrJohnRead You’re fired as well…..Lego Batman just fell off the new mic!
michelleread PatrickStemp MrJohnRead Whaaaaaaaaaa? I think you should get this for John: http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/16bc/
Oh hell yes!
PatrickStemp michelleread MrJohnRead OHHHHHH!!!! Geeze…..I really am fired. My bad.
RChazzChute michelleread It does, indeed.
RChazzChute Robert wins the internet!
RChazzChute Assuming it was good.
Michelle, don’t hate me. I had to update my browser…and adobe…
John Read! I keep bumping this thing.
Any questions for our guest, folks?
thelovie YOU’RE HEEEEEEEERE!!!
michelleread thelovie I AM!
thelovie michelleread Stacy is talking about making the switch 🙂
michelleread thelovie from? to? I missed it. I heard she homeschools.
Lovie!!
thelovie michelleread From running a daycare to full time writey things!
MrJohnRead MRJOHNREAD!
michelleread thelovie gotcha!
I want to ask her about box sets for about nine hours…..
Greetings, all!
Evening
BuddyGott Hello Buddy! : ) So glad you’re here.
michelleread BuddyGott Thanks! Glad you’re here too and not napping. 🙂
BuddyGott michelleread Thaaaaaaaank you……..was a wise choice, I hope.
BuddyGott michelleread As if! Hi Buddy 🙂
xgranville BuddyGott michelleread Mr. G!
BuddyGott xgranville michelleread Sup, dawg?
Stacy, usually for the really good book promo sites you need reviews to begin with–how did you start gathering your first reviews?
Our daughter is using Wattpad, of which I know nothing about, any tips on writing in it?
MrJohnRead I was just thinking that.
MrJohnRead Too bad half our audience is out tonight! BTW everyone…..Demelza, Carl, Erica, etc. all say hi 🙂
https://storycartel.com/about About Story Cartel. Interesting idea. How long did she leave it up there free since it’s for a “limited time”?
michelleread Is that a Blue Yeti?
RChazzChute Have you used Story Cartel before? I know I’ve been peppering you with questions about this stuff all week. Thanks for that cookie, btw. That ledge was getting a little uncomfy.
PatrickStemp michelleread IT IS!!! Was my V-Day pressie from MrJohnRead 🙂
PatrickStemp michelleread MrJohnRead WITH a Blue Pop Filter
michelleread RChazzChute No, I haven’t used it. That’s why I’m curious how long she leaves it up free. I’ve experimented with Wattpad. Same deal but no reviews there that I recall. I was hoping to pick up betas on Wattpad but that didn’t materialize.
I have an unlimited supply of virtual cookies.
Does Stacy have a mailing list? If so, how did she go about growing it?
CateMorgan http://stacyclaflin.com/newsletter/ on her website.
michelleread Ah, so if you can drive traffic there, it’s okay. Interesting. Thanks, Stacy.
thelovie CateMorgan Lovie for the win!
BuddyGott Hey Buddy!
Sing, X! SIIIIING!
I heard “cat” too, xgranville!
Jam for us, Xavier!!!
PatrickStemp BuddyGott Hey Pat!
michelleread PatrickStemp MrJohnRead Wow that’s awesome. I use the same mic. Have to check out the filter. Good job John!!!!
PatrickStemp michelleread MrJohnRead RIGHT?!
RChazzChute Maybe next week!
Stacy, what are you reading lately? What do you recommend in your genre?
None of anyone’s comments are loading for me. I feel like I’m dancing with myself. 🙁
RChazzChute AND there’s Robert with a great question : ) I’ll put it in the chat.
CateMorgan Now you made me want to listen to Billy
Idol.
CateMorgan And how is it? Are you a good dancer
BuddyGott CateMorgan Yes!
Stacy, how long does it take you to write a book, start to finish?
Here’s a list of podcasts I came up with lately: http://chazzwrites.com/2015/02/05/20-on-book-publishing-1-on-making-money-and-1-for-a-laugh/
Hey there.
RChazzChute I LURRRVE this post.
Carl Sinclair Hey there! Is NZ winning??
Carl Sinclair El Hefe.
Just popped in as New Zealand just bowled England out for 123 in the World Cup. Great figures for Southee there. 7 wickets for 33. Our best ever in ODI cricket.
NZ will be out for the chase shortly.
How are you all doing?
I want a Dinosaur Noir movie.
michelleread Carl Sinclair Smashed them. All out for 123.
Carl Sinclair Hey, man. Welcome back, to that same old place that you laughed about.
Welcome back, Cotter.
Carl Sinclair michelleread Yeahhhhhhh
Wade – stop swinging in your chair and sit up straight please.
BuddyGott Apparently a friend of friend who is an agent is ‘interested’ in the idea haha. Made me laugh. If I hear back from him again I’ll laugh harder, who knows he might bring money that time.
Carl Sinclair You tell him – also……did you see my new mic?
Michelle – look at the screen and smile. Shoulders back.
BuddyGott YES
michelleread Carl Sinclair Lift it up.
Xavier – stay sexy bro.
Carl Sinclair michelleread There you go
Carl Sinclair You got it!
michelleread Carl Sinclair Nice.
Look at Carl moderatin’
I just finished watching the last episode of The Vampire Diaries. That may be why I’m late. :p
thelovie You know it bro. Any cat memes for me?
AJ Vale Hi AJ!! 🙂
AJ Vale deary me…
michelleread AJ Vale Hi!
Carl Sinclair – Replace your profile pic here with the one of you dancing. Make it so.
Interesting. I think I get a lot of print sales through Pinterest. A lot of authors ignore Pinterest because they don’t think it converts. Nice to hear somebody else is using it and feels its effective.
RChazzChute ………prepare for me to eat your brain next week about Pinterest.
RChazzChute It’s an interesting place. I took a look at it but it just seems packed full of women posting pictures of cats. Dunno how to use it properly aimed at the type of readers I’m seeking. I doubt my audience is on Pintrest. Any thoughts?
BuddyGott Carl Sinclair Right?! Why is different? I would never change mine if it were me.
BuddyGott Carl Sinclair You got it silverfox
RChazzChute I’m definitely going to be using Pinterest more when my book comes out. I’ve heard a few people say it’s been effective for them.
But the cat pictures are funny, and adorable…
michelleread MrJohnRead Carl made it due to the first innings of the cricket ending an hour early.
I love her cover. The color, the pose… that cover rocks.
Carl Sinclair RChazzChute Yup. If you have a book cover that hits a demographic between the eyes, that helps immensely. My cover for Self-help for Stoners gets pinned and repinned several times a day. Make sure to post a link with your pic.
Alternatives: Pin celebrity photos that fit your characters.
Not sure what others do on Pinterest in this regard.
BuddyGott RChazzChute Do you know how they’re using Pinterest, Buddy?
Any last questions for our guest?
yes. Michelle, she *did* say “cat” earlier.
RChazzChute BuddyGott A lot like you talked about in your posting earlier, Chazz. Showing a lot of their own personal interests with others has made them appealing to people and then some of those people want to check out their books.
michelleread RChazzChute Michelle, I send you pins all the freakin time, dude.
Certainly not easy to fit in writing and looking after kids full time. Finding that myself.
thelovie michelleread RChazzChute You never send me pins.
Carl Sinclair Very true.
Boom! McCullum just smashed a 6 with a sweet cut shot.
Carl Sinclair thelovie michelleread RChazzChute Carl, you’re not Michelle. Shush it.
Quesiton for Stacy:
What kind of money do you suggest people spend on their books? Should they have a set budget for each one? If so how do you suggest it is spread? Few hundred for developmental and copy editing? How much for covers? What other investments do you suggest people put into their books? How much marketing (paid adverts etc)
Woo hoo I’m famous. They said my name. (faints)
Carl Sinclair thelovie michelleread RChazzChute And it would just be more stupid cat memes 😀
BuddyGott RChazzChute Nice one Buddy.
Carl Sinclair AJ Vale Don’t worry. I’m totally getting the whole podcast. It’s been a crazy day and my brain went out the window. Thank goodness Michelle mentioned the show tonight.
Does Stacy have any advice on how to best position your YA books to pick up the big audience out there due to series like Hunger Games, Mazerunner etc? Target those people on Facebook? Building keywords and search engine algos aimed at those people? Spending time on YA forums discussing with those fans?
I was just wondering because I imagine a lot of those people would be hanging on Facebook (the YA crowd) and it might be good to target groups/fans specifically who like Hunger Games etc. Just seemed like a decent idea.
I agree. Covers are vital. I recommend you hire someone to do a custom design (like a Xavier) or at the very least a decent premade. Plenty of top quality sites about these days. not like a year or so back.
http://damonza.com/ & http://goonwrite.com/ are the two we use a lot these days.
Carl Sinclair John Greene connects with his YA fans on youtube. It’s been effective in creating an entire fandom.
Wanna see a cool trick. Now I’m a viewer! Mommy got sick all of a sudden and is now being fed soup.
Carl Sinclair Here is a link to my premades, since I’ve been plugged!
http://theideapool.org/premadecovers/
MrJohnRead John… step in quick!
MrJohnRead You da man!
Now I can post as John. Man, I have the coolest wife.
How do you think Apple works? Where are those readers hanging out you think? How are you taking advantage of that audience and keeping it building? Have you been in touch with any ‘reps’ there and tried to work closer with them to build your brand on Apple?
-full of questions today – Carl Sinclair
Full of something
MrJohnRead That’s not very nice. I’ll forgive it being you know.. American and you guys have it hard.
AFTERPARTY! Comment here if you want in!
I can do the after party thing for a bit.
I’m going to leave a review this week
xgranville Can for a few minutes before the baby wakes up.
Not fair! I wouldn’t have gotten sick if you hadn’t said you weren’t going to make it. (From the lady Read)
MrJohnRead Sorry to jinx you, but I hit my word count for the day.
xgranville Xavier, send me an invite if there’s room. I might be late, but I’d like to pop in for at least a little while.
Hey John……. Go leave a review. I just told everyone you would. 🙂
RChazzChute Carl Sinclair That’s another thing I do. I have a board for casting characters in my Gone series. If you want to see how I have that, it’s here: https://www.pinterest.com/growwithstacy/gone-series-casting/
Carl Sinclair BuddyGott RChazzChute If you guys are interested, I wrote a post a while back about how I use Pinterest. I use Pinterest in a variety of ways to attract readers. http://stacyclaflin.com/2014/09/29/top-pinterest-tips-to-attract-your-ideal-readers/
michelleread Ask away 🙂
RChazzChute michelleread And I intend to read & write reviews for the following two books. 🙂 My TBR list is ginormous….
michelleread Oooh, nice box sets!