An optimist and opportunist, Strife is a self-made author, cover designer, and editor. Best known as Elysia Strife, who writes primarily sweet holiday romance, she most loves writing dystopian science fiction fantasy novels under the pseudonym variation E. L. Strife. She is an upcoming author of young adult fantasy as Elysia Lumen and looks forward to diving deeper into the world of magic.
Strife has toured castles, haunted houses, frozen caves, lava tubes, and concentration camps. She’s a hopeless empath who needs the quiescence of hiking in the Cascades, camping, and snowboarding to recharge. She also enjoys reading on rainy and snowy mornings with a fire going, even if it’s just the fake one in her RV. She craves learning new things, like how to work on her 1981 Corvette, her jeep, and the four-wheeler that just won’t budge.
Strife lives with an amazing man who can build anything he puts his mind to and a rescued dog that steals socks and chases the vacuum. Together, they travel the country—from the golden plains of North Dakota to the warm ocean of the southern Texas coast and back to the green valleys and vineyards of Oregon. Anywhere is home as long as they’re together.
If you’d like to know when Strife’s next books will be out, and to ensure you hear about her giveaways, visit her website: elstrife.com and subscribe via the links on her homepage.
WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:
Website: http://www.elstrife.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ElysiaLStrife
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ElysiaStrife
Claire’s husband passed away two years ago this Christmas, leaving her alone and in charge of a beautiful and overwhelming cabin venue in the
Montana mountains. She’s low on cash, the truck won’t start, and fewer people are calling in event requests.
Every past assistant has been problematic and disappointing. With one final wedding scheduled for the year, Claire is desperate to make a good impression and needs the property in top shape. Only one candidate remains: Zach.
Zach is prior service, down on his luck, and shamed by the town for the actions of his youth. Even after a decade of service, he can’t escape the gossip.
Claire has no option but to entrust him with the future of Briar Ridge—her future. She just wished he didn’t have to remind her so much of her late husband. Yet Zach is different, bringing with his burdens an unexpectedly sweet side.
Zach is full of surprises.
She doesn’t want to fall for him.
He can’t help but fall for her.
A sweet holiday romance with a few curses and some violence.
PRAISE
“A beautiful, gentle story with believable characters that have heart, feelings & Christian values.” – Danica McMahon (Goodreads Review) 5 Stars
ORDER YOUR COPY
Amazon → https://amzn.to/37PqSx1
After your book was released, what was the first thing you did when getting ready for your book launch?
I always email my subscribers and make sure they know about my book tour, my upcoming deal dates, and that my signed paperback copy drawing is open for entries. I include links for my subscribers to review any early copies they might’ve snagged so they can post their thoughts and reviews.
After that, what was your next step?
I usually run an ad or two for a deal price or giveaway on the published work through a solid site like Written Word Media. It helps me get the book out there, and the results are most often worth their price.
A couple weeks later, before a tour/launch, I’ll email my subscribers again, let them know of any updates. I also always try to include other free or discounted books I’ve found that they might like. I want my emails to be beneficial to them. Can’t say I’ve met someone who doesn’t like free books!
Did you do anything different to spice up your website in lieu of your upcoming book release?
I always advertise when my latest Advanced Review Copy is posted so that my readers can pick them up and leave reviews. The feedback they provide helps encourage new customers that might not know me to pick up a copy of my book.
Did you ever consider using a PR agency to help you promote your book or did you prefer the DIY route?
I always do the DIY route because I don’t have the money for PR agents. Honestly, I don’t spend a ton of time on marketing and launching because I’m already working on the next books. I’ve found a few key things that work fine with me, then I make a habit of gently pushing my book with ads continuously for the following years.
Were finding reviews a top priority for you and, if yes, how did you approach that?
Reviews are always important. They tell me how much my readers liked or didn’t like my book which gives me feedback for the next publications. But reviews also help others decide whether or not to pick up my book. When you’re a relatively new or not well-known author, reviews can help new readers decide whether or not you’re worth the risk!
I use Prolific Works and Story Origin to deliver Advanced Review Copies of my books for free to my subscribers and to new people who I hope will become interested in my work, leave reviews, and subscribe to my email list. I give out hundreds of copies and get a few subscribers and a few reviews. But I don’t want to oversell my work. I want people to subscribe that actually enjoy my content and are interested in sticking around for more of it. Numbers don’t matter as much as reader satisfaction does to me.
What are your views on social media for marketing your book?
I always post a few updates there but I don’t want to drown people in “buy my book.” I’m afraid self-promotion gets sort of spammy after a while. My home feed is full of “buy this course/book/class/webinar etc.” I have to keep my work and family life separate on social media or they get lost in all that promotional content.
I tried a few social media ads without much luck a couple years back. And I recently tried a couple of BookBub ads, but got zero clicks. Honestly, when I’m on BB for fun, I don’t even see the ads. I pass right over them. I had to deliberately slow down and look for them when I was researching.
I think gifs would work better. Movement always catches my eye! If I’ve got gifs or time to make them, I usually will use those instead of just an image. They get probably 30% more interaction than stills.
"It’s best to start strong with a few ads the first couple of days, then ease into an ad once or twice a week to keep the interest somewhat steady. This will also help provide better customer interaction for the site’s marketing algorithms."
What social media has worked best for you?
Facebook has been best for connecting with readers, though I find most of them through ARC sites. Twitter has been great for finding writers to talk to. But for book-related images, I love Instagram and Pinterest. I could be on either one of those sites all day oogling books! I have yet to figure out a good system for tackling those with book promotion. Hoping to try this soon!
Did you have other books you offered for free in order to help sell your present book?
I have a few holiday romances, short stories and novels, that I’m offering giveaways and discounts on this season. I’m hoping, in combination, they’ll all help sell each other like a team. We’ll see!
Did you set up booksignings and, if so, how did that work for you?
Book signings aren’t really a thing during the pandemic. Every time I launch a book, I make sure to do a signed copy giveaway for my subscribers. It’s important to me that they get special perks no one else does. I glove and mask-up, sanitize my table, then sign and send a copy of my latest book to my winning subscriber.
Did you create a book trailer?
Pump Up Your Book made me a trailer!
Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMv-2nhVDPs&feature=youtu.be
Did you time your book launch around a certain holiday?
Christmas! I published the book earlier this fall but had my tour set up so I could celebrate my latest holiday novel during its prime season! What a gift this has been!
What was the best money you ever spent on your book launch?
I suppose there are a few things. I can’t say any one service can outdo the others. A lot of things have to work together for the engine to run. I always set up pre-orders on Amazon and now follow it up with Amazon Advertising Sponsored Product Ads in the “holiday fiction” genre.
My pre-order price is always a discount from the end price for novellas and novels, and I accept that I won’t make a lot of money on my pub day, more so after. People click on the ads, pre-order at a cheaper price, and then on pub day I get a nice chunk of sales that lifts the rank of my book and makes it more discoverable. It gets indexed by Amazon’s algorithms, and I start pulling in sales at regular price.
I usually try to run an ad the day of launch to bolster sales and rank, then a few more later that week, that month, and then “pulse” ads throughout the year in combination with any other books that I’ve written in related genres.
Any tips for those authors wanting to set up a successful book launch?
Make a plan.
Unless you’re well-known, you’re going to want to do free Advanced Review Copies of your book and distribute them wherever you can up until publication day so you can build up reviews. Get into group giveaways if you can. Those can be the difference between 50 downloads of your book and 500. Not kidding.
Some people launch on pub day. Some delay it so reviews have time to come in. It’s up to you and whatever the status of your writing career is. I do a sort of “soft launch” all the first month my book is available. Then I try to stop annoying people about it and start bugging them with the next book!
When you put ARC copies out there, set up a discounted pre-order for your book to help drive early interest. Customers can’t leave reviews if it isn’t published (at least on Amazon.) But if you publish a paperback, it can provide a way for readers to review your book before the ebook publishes (as long as the formats of the titles are linked). I usually publish the paperback one to two weeks ahead of the ebook date so my subscribers can leave early reviews. Even if someone orders a paperback from Amazon, it has to be printed and shipped. Often, at the earliest, it won’t arrive until close to the ebook’s pub day anyway.
Ad stacking is expensive, but it works…for a while. If you pile on the ads the first week and then don’t run any later, you’re going to get a spike in sales and then nothing. It can also get you put on Amazon’s “rank manipulation” watch-list if you publish with KDP. It’s best to start strong with a few ads the first couple of days, then ease into an ad once or twice a week to keep the interest somewhat steady. This will also help provide better customer interaction for the site’s marketing algorithms.
For example, one of my holiday romances features kidnapping. I was too chicken to put it in that category. I recently found it has a recommended ad category of “Kidnapping Thriller” in Canada. Guess I should’ve gone with my initial thought. But Amazon did it for me, likely because people who read kidnapping thrillers picked up that book. Amazon saw that and added the category. That’s my best guess anyway.
I do enjoy book tours with Pump Up Your Book, especially now, during the whole lockdown craziness. It’s a month-long blog tour with book features, reviews, interviews, and guest posts. You meet new readers, get a few reviews, and always learn a little about yourself and your book along the way. This is my third tour and I’ve enjoyed each one. If you’re shy about manually searching for places to guest post and finding reviewers or sites that will highlight your book and drive interest, a book tour is the way to go. It also works if you’re like me and crushed under the weight of new stories, finishing one or more book series, and starting fresh outlines from ideas that popped in your head this morning. If I had more time, heck knows I’d do it myself like everything else. But Pump Up Your Book makes tours a cinch and the blog stops a lot more fun. (And safer during lockdown!)
I’m always up for chatting indie pub. If you’re a writer who wants to talk books and self-publishing, you can find me on Twitter @ElysiaLStrife. I started from scratch. I know how intimidating publishing your first book can seem!
Readers are also always welcome to contact me on any of my social media accounts or on my website elstrife.com.
Thanks for reading! This was a blast!
I send my best your way!
Love,
Elysia
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