C h a z z W r i t e s . c o m

See all my books at AllThatChazz.com.

05/15/2020 • 12:51 PM 3

Eight Minutes, Thirty-six Seconds

Murders Among Dead Trees by Robert Chazz Chute
http://mybook.to/MurdersAmongDeadTrees

If time and space still matter to you, it’s Friday. Odds are excellent that you might be a little freaked out. By times, I am, too. I had a couple of misty-eyed moments this week thinking about how different things were such a short time ago.

Bleh! Let’s move on quickly to avoid getting sucked into the doom spiral!

Two suggestions

Do not binge the news. It’s a rabbit hole in the middle of a shit show and all that shit is flowing into that hole. Stay informed, sure, but do not overdose. You can’t waste energy on things (and idiots and morons) you can’t control. For your mental health, find something better to do. I say this not only as a person who is prone to anxiety and depression, but as an inveterate wallower.
Take a break of some kind. Bake bread, maybe? I do. Walk in circles as you rock out to bangin’ tunes. I do that, too. Shower. I’m resolving to keep that habit going daily! Wheeeeee!

Or…ooh, ooh! How about this? Take eight minutes and thirty-six seconds to listen to a short story about a date that’s close to going very wrong.

Here’s the link to the audio.

This complementary audio adventure is called The Fortune Teller. It’s from one of my anthologies, Murders Among Dead Trees.

Enjoy!

Robert

P.S. If you dig free audio stories, check out my recording of the first chapter of Citizen Second Class, too. You’ll find the audio on my author site here.

~ I’m Robert Chazz Chute. I write suspenseful novels, sometimes an apocalypse, sometimes a killer crime thriller. Find all my book links at AllThatChazz.com.

Filed under: audio story, Amazon, anthology stories, audio story, citizen second class, Murders Among Dead Trees, Robert Chazz Chute, short stories, The Fortune Teller

05/08/2020 • 7:57 AM 0

Audio, Tweaks, Smarts and Readers

It’s Friday again, already? Anybody else feel like they can’t tell time anymore? 8 pm seems to take me by surprise every damn day.

This week’s update is all over the road but you’ll find a gem that’s just for you from my daily blogging on my author site, AllThatChazz.com.

Behold!

Enjoy your audio sample of Citizen Second Class

Audiobook creation can be prohibitively expensive and time-consuming. I plan to expand my work on audiobooks later this year. I’m sitting in my blanket fort/studio as I write this. It’s my world HQ for DIY audiobook production.

Though the audiobook process is lengthy, there’s no need to wait to start using audio to hook readers and get them eager for more.

Try out this recording from Citizen Second Class. It’s just 17 minutes long, including the maracas.

What I talk about with readers

Wary of the newsletter grind and less than excited about sales funnels? Me, too. I’d prefer genuine engagement with excited readers. Here’s how.

Engaging with readers doesn’t have to be a chore or cut into your writing time significantly. I love it, especially because I can curate my crowd. In this article, I talk about how I stay in touch with core readers daily. It’s not a chore at all. It’s a fun, creative outlet wherein I stay in touch with great people who dig what I do. I like them, too. I still do newsletters, but not nearly so often.

Plus? If you struggle to figure out what to say to your readers, I have some ideas on how to handle that.

How to be smarter than people smarter than you

An interesting video packed with a very specific and helpful reading list. Get smart. Read!

A Review of Netflix’s Into the Night

I take downtime through the week, too. This is my review of some bold Belgian sci-fi, available on Netflix. (Also known as: What the heck to do when the sun is trying to kill you?)

Why you can’t focus and how to fix that

Many of us are having trouble focusing now. Gee, I wonder why. Don’t worry. Help is on the way with this video. Focus!

Easy and The Night Man Cover Tweak

With one minor cover tweak and the addition of a subtitle, I’m making it more clear what I’m offering my audience when they browse The Night Man.

Even better? I did it without losing the powerful cover image I really wanted to keep.

~ I’m Robert Chazz Chute. I write apocalyptic epics and killer crime thrillers. Subscribe to my author site at AllThatChazz.com.

Filed under: updates, audio recordings, audio samples, audiobooks, book audio, book covers, book subtitles, citizen second class, creating audiobooks, engaging fans, engaging readers more, facebook author groups, facebook fan groups, how to focus, how to get smarter, how to improve focus, how to talk to readers, improving book covers, Robert Chazz Chute, subtitles, talking to readers, The Night Man, what to say to readers

01/08/2020 • 12:18 PM 1

Help for Authors

(Click here to go straight to the Dystopian Book Fair.)

It is not often that tools comes along that help authors automate and optimize a bunch of operations we used to have to do manually. If that were true, I’d post here more often. A few years ago, after posting daily at the beginning of publishing’s indie revolution, I decided to focus more on writing books. I post on ChazzWrites when I am sure I have something valuable to share. Today, that value comes from telling you about Bookfunnel and StoryOrigin. Participation will equal a smoother publishing process with your beta readers and ARCS and can certainly build your readership (without dropping a ton of money on time-consuming advertising experiments nobody can quite seem to perfect.)

StoryOrigin has three levels of membership, all free at the moment. Their highest level (AKA Professional) is in beta so I guess that’s why that’s still free for now. Bookfunnel also has three tiers of membership, all reasonably priced and dependent on your assessement of where you are in your writing career (First-time. Mid-list or Bestseller, $20, 100 or $250 respectively.)

StoryOrigin recently added a tool for writers to track their daily word counts and goals. I like the look of the goal creator because it offers an end date, not just a start date. God knows many of us are better at starting than finishing. I am new to StoryOrign but I used Bookfunnel for my latest release, Citizen Second Class. I can say that when I encountered a minor problem and contacted Bookfunnel’s tech support, they were fast and friendly and all over it immediately. That’s service worth paying for.

Something I enjoy about Bookfunnel is the promotional opportunity. Whether you’re giving away free samples, ARCS, reader magnets or full books, you can create a nifty landing page on Bookfunnel easily. You can also establish or join a book promotion with fellow authors in the same genre in a snap. New promotional opportunities show up in my inbox all the time and there’s no additional fee. Bookfunnel figured out an easy way to do for authors what you can’t do to cats: Herd us in a positive direction.

Today, for instance, I’m participating in a promotion of authors and their books similar to mine for Citizen Second Class. This one is called The Dystopian Book Fair. Each author is assigned an individual tracking link for their day during the book promotion. Each participating author spreads the happy word to their followers through newsletters and social media. Very professional. Click here to see what that looks like.

It’s the beginning of 2020 and many of you have probably made the identical resolution: “This is the year I will take my writing career to the next level.” Bookfunnel and StoryOrigin look like very inexpensive ways to solidify and execute that commitment.