Introducing GiraffeCrafts!

Hello!

I promised you a new site for Indie e-Con - and here it is.

Just click this image

I'm still working on the main website part of GiraffeCrafts, where I'll be offering services to authors, including:

Cover Reveal Organization

Blog Tour Organization

Novel Critiquing

Basically, this means that I'll read a book for an author and help them identify what they need to do before it's publishable. Not a full-on edit, but I may point out any consistent grammar errors.

Reviewer Recruitment

I don't believe that authors should buy reviews (a post for another day), but, frankly, asking people to review your book can be intimidating. Basically, this will be me playing middle-man. I'm setting up a Netgalley of sorts dedicated to Indie Book so that readers can get good Indie fiction, and authors can get good reviews. There will be a fee to the author, but they are buying my time for FINDING reviewers, not the reviews themselves. And, frankly, it'll be a lower fee than many reviewers charge for their reviews.

And there will possibly/probably be more, but I'm still working through those details (Not sure if I want to toss editing in there. I love editing ... but I tend to take forever on it). Of course, as my audience grows (and I intend for it to grow), I'll be able to offer more features.

For some of these, I'm going to need you guys' help on it. For the Cover Reveal and Blog Tour Organization, I need bloggers, and, of course, I need reviewers for the reviewer recruitment. This week only, joining these teams can enter you for a FREE blog tour planned by moi. (See rafflecoptor giveaway at the bottom of this post!!)

I'm also looking at providing advertisement for editors, artists, cover designers, formators, and other such folk who provide services to Indie Authors. Since I know I'm not a great risk just yet, it'll only be a $3/month fee (via PayPal), but taking advantage of the price will lock you in at this price permanently, even if I do raise it in the future, and you can leave for up to three months without losing this price-lock. Advertising through me will feature you in the main site's services pages with a chance to be featured on the main home page. It will also place you on a short list of companies that I will personally recommend to authors who use my Critiquing service. Email me at kendraeardnek@gmail.com if you're interested.

Don't have a website? I'm also looking at hosting other editors/artists/cover designers/etc. directly on my site. This will NOT make you an employee of GiraffeCrafts, and you will have to manage all of your money and tax information yourself. You will merely need to pay a monthly $5 hosting fee (again, via PayPal), BUT only if you made any sales that month.

I'm also in the process of putting together a Goodreads Group for Indie authors, focusing on being a support group for each other.

But for now, the blog.

The GiraffeCrafts blog is dedicated to advice for writing, editing, publishing, and marketing - giving authors tools so that they can make their work worthy of promotion. At the moment, I'm in the process of porting over all writing advice that I have posted on this blog, including me "Tips from a Young Writer" posts and all of the Indie e-Con Articles, so, for the next few weeks, you can expect one to two of those posts to be posted each day until I run out of them.

When I have those exhausted, I have plans, but I'm also open to outside contributors.

The GiraffeCrafts blog will host future Indie e-Cons, so stay tuned for information on that. I'll be writing a post where I address all of the concerns and suggestions brought up in the survey.

If you haven't yet, do consider signing up for the GiraffeCrafts Mailing List to stay up to date on Indie e-Con news and other marketing opportunities.

I also now have a weekly radio show on Eagles Nest Broadcasting where I'll be interviewing authors on Friday nights at 8-9 CST.

I have new social media set up for GiraffeCrafts:

Facebook~Twitter~Pinterest

Now, I think that's everything, so, on to the giveaway! As stated, this is for a FREE blog tour. I will (1) set up sign-up forms and graphics if you need them (2) blast your blog tour to my bloggers (and you'll be expected to share it with all of your followers) (3) advise you on posts (4) if you wish me to, handle communication.

You would not be required to redeem this immediately, and will allowed to hang on to it until you need a Blog Tour organized. However, the book promoted MUST comply with the GiraffeCrafts content policy.

Oh, and for the record, for the "comment" option on the giveaway, the comment MUST be on the GiraffeCrafts blog. Any post you wish, but comments on this post do NOT count.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Indie e-Con 2017 Winners and Prizes!

Hello! I'd like to thank everyone for coming this year to Indie e-Con. It was terrible fun, and I might have a cramp now in my arm from all of the typing and writing I've done. (Yes, writing. I keep handwritten notes of everything so that I don't loose them.)

Seriously, though, I posted more posts this WEEK than I did in my first three years of blogging combined, and my blog got more views each day than I normally get in a month.

So, first off, the games. If you click back to them I now have filled them all in with the answers. So who won the shiny books that they promised?

All of these are ebook prizes:
Day one - Match the Opening Line: Erika Mathews (All Correct) Wins: Her choice of one of E. Kaiser Write's Books.
Day two - Match the Quote: Erika Mathews (11 Correct) Wins: Adela's Curse by Claire M. Banschbach. (Although the randomizer gave me Promise's Prayer the first time ... she doesn't need her own book)
Day three - Match the Cover Art: Kelsey Bryant (All Correct) Wins: Promise's Prayer by Erika Mathews.
Day four - Match the Blurb: Sarah Allerding (All Correct) Wins: Marketing your Book on a Budget by Kathryn Jones.
Day five - Match the Upcoming Book: Erika Mathews (All Correct) Wins: Her choice of one of Faith Blum's books

The Grand Prize Winner: Erika Mathews. (She accumulated a grand total of 141 points!!!) She wins Marketing Your Book on a Budget in paperback!

Now for the participation prize.

There were a lot of you who did a lot of commenting and sharing, but there was one person who just took the cake and blew all of you away, accumulating 137 tally marks in my notebook.

Savannah Grace!!

And now for your prize. 

You get: A birchbark bookmark provided by Tammy Lash, an ebook of your choice from Katy Huth Jones, an ebook of your choice by Jesseca Wheaton, and either an ebook of your choice by me or the chance to read any one of my WIP's (though I recommend one with an asterisk).

Everyone, email me at kendraeardnek@gmail.com with your choices (if you have choices) and address (if something physical needs to be shipped to you.) You were all awesome!

Check out the awards for the WRITING CONTEST, the BOOK AWARDS, and the WORD WAR.

Now, onto the future of Indie e-Con.

It will not be here on this blog. Sometime in the next week, I'll be launching a new blog, this one dedicated to the writing craft and, in particular, to providing resources to Indie authors to take them from "good" to great. Info to come on that. I will be copying all of the posts from THIS Indie e-Con to this blog, as well as any other post that I have in my backposts about how to write.

(Don't worry, this blog will still be where I talk about my own writing. I'll still be filling out tags here. Talking about my life here.)

I am continuing the radio show I had this week, on Friday nights, 8:00-9:00 CST, where I'll be interviewing Independantly-published authors. For the first half-hour, we'll talk about the author's work, and the second half, some form of writing advice. Also, my dad will have a show on Sunday Nights on that channel.

I do already have a theme picked out for next year (and for the year after that), so, yes, it will be happening. I'm going to begin work on it much sooner in the year than I did with this one, though, and hopefully, find some other people to help with the organization work. I intend to make it much bigger, better, and more exciting than this one.

To do that, I'd like your opinions, so if you could please go and fill out this survey, I'd very much appreciate it.  And, yes, the giraffe is relevant.

Also, I have put together a mailing list with which I shall notify people of updates to Indie e-Con, as well as of promotional opportunities. You can sign up as a reader, author, or service provider, and it'll be awesome. You don't want to miss out on what's to come, so you don't want to miss out on this mailing list. (In fact, share it with all of your author and indie-book-loving friends)

Again, thank you so much to everyone who attended. You made this amazing, and I'm truly humbled by how this came together.

And now I'm going to go bed. I'm exhausted.