Ali is the author of Lycopolis and Publishing E-Books For Dummies. She blogs about writing. She is also the creator of Writers' Huddle.

You can visit Ali's site here.

Here is a cute little promo I did for Publishing E-Books For Dummies:

Here's the interview...

Thank you for taking the time to stop by my blog, Ali!


Thank you for having me.

Feel free to kick your feet up and get comfy.


Don't mind if I do.

When did you first start writing or know that you wanted to be a writer?

I loved writing as a young child – I remember creating a little book about a mouse when I was five or six. By the time I was ten, I knew I wanted to be a writer, and would pester my mum for ideas to write about!

What types of stories did you write about growing up?

To begin with, most of my stories were pretty derivative of Enid Blyton. When I was 12 or 13, I started exploring more widely – I really enjoyed writing a modernization of Beowulf at that time. I started work on my first novel around my fourteenth birthday (after finishing two or three drafts, I abandoned it a couple of years later).

What is your inspiration and creative muse? Where do you get your ideas from?

Anywhere and everywhere! Basically, I write stuff I’d love to read – for instance, my novel Lycopolis is quite geeky...

How do you brainstorm up your ideas?


I find mind-mapping really useful. I’ve done mind-maps for everything from blog posts to characters to household chores!

What methods do you use to develop your characters and your plots?

For developing characters, I found Holly Lisle’s ebook Create a Character Clinic really handy. It goes a lot deeper than the rather trite “character checklists” you find in some creative writing books. When it comes to developing plots, I definitely have some way to go! I’ve just read K.M. Weiland’s Structuring Your Novel and plan to use that to help me plot my next novel.


Do you outline and plot out your novels before you start writing or do you just start writing?

In the past, I’ve usually gone with knowing the first five or so chapters, the ending, and vaguely what happens in the middle. I usually have to do a lot of rewriting, though, so I’m slowly coming round to the idea of outlining a bit more thoroughly before I begin.

Do you ever get writer's block? If yes, how do you combat it?

I make my living writing, and I’ve never really had writer’s block. Sometimes I lose interest in writing fiction, usually because life’s busy or because I’ve taken too long a break from it – I always get back into it again, and I think these fallow periods are probably an important part of the ebb and flow of the writing life.

Who are your favorite authors?

Lots! I’ll try to give you a range, in no particular order: C.S. Lewis, Joanne Harris, Ben Aaranovitch, Jasper Fforde, C.S. Friedman, Jane Austen, Alexander McCall Smith, E. Nesbit, Frank Richards.

What are your favorite books?

Anything by the above authors? ;-) One I could read again and again is E. Nesbit’s The Treasure-Seekers. (Actually, I love all her children’s novels.) 

What was the driving force that lead you to self-publish your first novel?

Impatience and a bit of a control freak streak.

Did you even consider looking for an agent and going the traditional route?

For a long time it was all I considered. When I started writing Lycopolis, the Kindle had only just come out in the US and self-publishing really wasn’t a viable option. I did ship the manuscript out to a few agents who looked like a good fit, but when I didn’t get anywhere, I decided to go ahead and self-publish.

It says on your blog and in Publishing E-Books For Dummies that you made mistakes along your self-publishing journey and that want to pay it forward by educating authors to help keep them from making the same mistakes. Which mistakes did you make that aspiring authors can learn from?

The main one was trying to market the novel through a blog tour – guest posting on different blogs during the launch. It only helped me sell a tiny handful of extra books, and it was a huge amount of work. I’ve talked to Joanna Penn of TheCreativePenn.com about this and she agree with me that while blog tours are a great marketing tool for non-fiction, they really don’t work well for fiction.

Once again, thank you for stopping by. Everyone, give Ali a round of applause.

All About Ali In Her Own Words

Hello! I’m Ali Luke, and Aliventures is my blog (and the name of my business).

My husband Paul and I live in Oxford in the UK, with our baby daughter, Kitty, who was born in March 2013. I write blog posts, non-fiction ebooks, and fiction.

I love writing, but I also love working with writers to help them take their work further. My client list is currently full, so I can’t offer you one-to-one mentoring or editorial support, but my site Writers' Huddle is almost as good (and much cheaper!)

What’s Aliventures about?

This blog is all about writing (fiction and non-fiction).

You’ll also find posts from me on popular blogs like Copyblogger, Write to Done, Men with Pens, The Creative Penn, ProBlogger and Daily Blog Tips.

One of the biggest questions that crops up when I’m working with writers is “How do I find more time for my writing?” If that’s something you’re struggling with, I’ve got a free ebook to help you make time to write: you can find out about it (and a bunch of other freebies) here.

Find Ali Online

Aliventures http://www.aliventures.comAli's Posts @ Copyblogger http://www.copyblogger.com/author/ali-hale/
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5352094.Ali_Luke
Subscribe To Ali's Newsletter http://www.aliventures.com/newsletter
Twitter https://twitter.com/aliventures

Purchase Ali's Books On Amazon

Lycopolis http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0068R6GAC
Publishing E-Books For Dummies http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0091996BK

Thank you! I hope you all have a smashing day!

Stay Wicked,
Jill

The short answer... NO! Run away as fast as your feet will carry you!

It was on sale during its product launch. It was only $17.00 for a single user license. So, I thought what do I have to lose? After all, it said that if I wasn't satisfied with the software within the first 30-days, that I would get a full refund.

What is AK Booster Pro? It appeared to be a nifty app that did targeted Amazon-specific keyword research. It was supposed to tell you what the leading indicators on Amazon were. That's what people were actually searching for on Amazon-specifically. It then ranked these keywords. It also was supposed to tell you what the demand and competition ranks were for each keyword.

The submitter tool, was supposed to submit your Kindle eBook to a whole slew of websites (including Facebook Groups and Pages) that promoted eBooks.

The reviewer tool was supposed to find reviewers on Amazon, Goodreads and Facebook according to keywords of your choosing. It was supposed to list their rank, reviewer ID, email, website and the source of their reviews.

Did it live up to the hype? Not even close! AK Booster Pro did absolutely nothing that it said that it was going to do! The Get Keywords tool showed me all of the Amazon leading indicators for any keyword of my choosing. I liked to click at the top where it said Rank, to organize the keywords by rank. The Get Scores tool let me know which exact keywords had high demand and low competition. The Total Score turned green if it was a good keyword choice. So, what was the problem? Amazon's algorithms and logarithms were constantly changing, as was consumer demand. Keywords that were High Demand/Low Competition... Were Low Demand/Low Competition an hour later!

I changed my Categories and Keywords based on recommendations from AK Booster Pro. Did my book become more discoverable/visible? Nope! Sales halted! I changed everything back to the way they had been and sales resumed immediately! I won't even bother going into the specifics of the Submitter and Reviewer Tools, except to say that they too were bogus.

On top of everything else, the software was glitchy and kept crashing.

As per the Refund Policy, I e-mailed support@abhid.org. I explained the reason why I was requesting a full refund. As per the Refund Policy, I should have received my refund within 48 hours. It's been nearly a week. I've sent several e-mails and reported AK Booster Pro along with Ben Murray and Abhi Dwivedi to my bank, the BBB, the FTC, my ISP and the companies their websites are registered through.

UPDATE 2/5/2014 9:39 AM: I have received two abusive e-mails from support@abhid.org. I filed a police report, as per the Florida Department of Law Enforcement this falls under Florida Statutes for Internet Crimes. They didn't even want to follow their own Refund Policy. They wanted me to sign into their website and submit a support ticket requesting a refund and that I'd receive a refund within 30 days.

UPDATE 2/5/2014 10:30 PM: I finally received a refund... Along with yet another abusive e-mail. These people just don't know when to stop. I've forwarded the e-mail to the police, because they told me earlier that if they sent me any further communications that they could pursue it under Florida law. I shouldn't have had to involve the BBB, FTC, my ISP, the Registrar of their websites and the police in order to receive a refund. I didn't even receive an apology... It just paints a clear picture of the kind of sociopaths I was dealing with.

Here is the Refund Policy from their website:

"First 30 Days

If the products aren’t functioning, producing errors or you haven’t received access to them at any time during the first 30 days after purchase, simply delete all digital files and license keys you obtained from us, and ask for a full refund. You will get your money back within first 48 hours. That’s a firm promise and commitment.

There is no refund offered after the first 30 days.

Contacting Us

Email your refund requests to support [at] abhid.org. Please include the words “Refund Request” in the subject line of your email.

To serve you and others better in the future, we require that you tell us why you want a refund and provide us with an opportunity to help you fix the issue. We want satisfied customers.

Please remember that asking for a refund but continuing to use products purchased from us is the same thing as stealing and may also violate applicable intellectual property rights law.

This refund policy was last updated on March 01, 2013."

I've been searching high and low for legitimate customer reviews and have not found any yet. It's entirely possible that the people behind AK Booster Pro might be working with Reputation Management companies, who game search engines into hiding negative reviews of a person or product. This is purely speculative. I tried searching and not even my review came up in the results, which is why I thought that it was possible... But, I really can't know for sure.

Honestly, I took a huge leap in buying this software. In the past I've tried four other products that were supposed to take the guesswork out of keyword research, listing my eBook with free and discounted mailing list sites and finding reviewers. When I used the suggested Amazon leading indicators, sales completely stopped. I found reviews written of those products written by other authors who said they encountered the same exact problem. I was unsatisfied with the results from those products. I had hoped that AK Booster Pro would be different. Yet, it was no different. It was the same story, different day.

Plus, the Kindle Publishing Roadmap Webinar with Ben Murray and Tim Castleman was a sham! It was a get rich quick scheme involving outsourcing everything from cover design and writing content to editing and formatting in order to publish two non-fiction eBooks a month. All of my questions were ignored for one thing. They asked questions that had nothing to do with me. One question they asked was about how many of us have ADD and can't stay passionate or motivated about something? That doesn't describe me at all. I'm an ENFP! We are nothing if not driven, enthusiastic, excited, motivated and passionate to the point that some people find us smothering in our enthusiasm. They also asked if they said give me $100 right now and we'll give you $20 a week forever, would you take it? I said no. Apparently I was one of the only people who said no and then they went on to say that only an idiot would say no. Actually, that's not true. A recent study conducted in Las Vegas did the same exact thing. They went up to strangers making the same offer. 95% took them up on it and 5% declined. What the study revealed was that the 95% who accepted the offer had low self-confidence and low self-esteems. The 5% who said no had high self-confidence and high self-esteems. Also, the 5% who said no; were found to be much bolder, tenacious, well-adjusted and much more intelligent then the 95% who accepted the offer. So, you'll only accept the offer if you're the sort of person I wouldn't even go near wearing a hazmat suit just in case stupidity happens to be contagious and I'd lose IQ points just by being in the same vicinity as you.

Plus... I'm an artist/author/editor as well as having this illusive thing called integrity. I write all of my own content and design my own covers. I do some of my own editing, but leave the rest up to a couple of my close friends who happen to be editors. I looked up the books that Ben and Tim were using to illustrate their points (during the webinar), which were published by Emily Castleman. Yes, they were popular within their sub-genres within their category... Yet, their Kindle Store ranks were really low. My book is ranked much higher, so why would I take any advice from them? Shouldn't it be the other way around?

I can't believe that this software was recommended by TheBookDesigner.

Here are a few screenshots that I took of AK Booster Pro. I have more that I will upload later that illustrate the shifts in keyword demand.

Thank you! I hope you all have a smashing day!

Stay Wicked,
Jill

I decided to play around with Titles on my Amazon sales page after a few other authors suggested that adding the genre into my title would help boost my books discoverability/visibility. Although, this was a great idea in theory... It didn't really work. I had hoped that adding the genre into my title would help make my book become more discoverable/visible, but the exact opposite happened!

I tried many different titles such as:

Wicked: A Contemporary Fantasy
Wicked: A Fantasy
Wicked: A Fantasy Comedy
Wicked: A Fantasy Satire
Wicked: A Metaphysical Satire
Wicked: A Paranormal Comedy
Wicked: A Paranormal Fantasy
Wicked: A Paranormal Satire
Wicked: A Supernatural Comedy
Wicked: A Supernatural Satire
Wicked: An Urban Fantasy

And so on... And so forth... I believe you get the idea...

Adding a genre into my title absolutely KILLED my sales. I changed my title back to just Wicked and my book literally started selling again overnight.

I have spoken with a few other authors, who tried the same thing and experienced the same exact results.

Conclusion: Adding SEO Keywords into your title on Amazon, instead of boosting your SEO... It kills it! You're better off finding ways to creatively use your SEO Keywords in your book description.

Thank you! I hope you all have a smashing day!

Stay Wicked,
Jill

First off, welcome to my blog. My name is Jillian Kleine Der Löwe. I pursued my dream and became a published author.

My blog will consist of three types of posts:

1) Posts about my current and future releases.

2) Most Fridays my blog will feature a series of posts entitled "For Writers".

3) My blog is open to authors, bloggers and publishing professionals as a stop on blog tours. I am open to doing book blasts, book reviews, character interviews, guest posts, interviews, promotions, etc.

The nature of my "For Writers" posts are to share everything that I have learned about writing and publishing so that you too can pursue your dreams by publishing your stories. If you're a writer and you're reading my blog, you're embarking on the journey of writing and publishing. Congratulations, a positive experience awaits you! There is nothing more rewarding than publishing your stories. You will find that publishing opens you up to a wide variety of opportunities. My posts will introduce you to and educated you about the wide world of publishing. I will take you through the whole entire process from creating content, to publishing and promoting your stories. I also aim to teach you about the various opportunities that you can pursue after publishing. I will also be reviewing blogs, books, products, services, software and websites that may be helpful to you throughout this journey.

Here is a rundown of the areas of writing and publishing that my "For Writers" posts will feature:

1. Inspiration - These posts will help you discover what makes you tick and how/where to find your creative muse. 

2. Creating Content - These posts will take you through the Brainstorming, Character Development, Plot Development and Outlining phases. These posts will also help you identify in which genre your books will fit. 

3. Writing - These posts will take you through the actual writing process, encourage you to keep on writing and help you overcome any obstacles that may arise. 

4. Critiquing - These posts will show you how to find beta readers, critique partners and writing groups. 

5. Editing - These posts will educate you on self-editing and provide many resources, as well as help you find affordable freelance editors. 

6. Formatting and Interior Design - These posts will help you design and format your books for publication. 

7. Cover Design - These posts will teach you how to design an amazing cover using images that are free for commercial use or find affordable cover designers. 

8. Publication - These posts will teach you how to publish your books online; with special attention devoted to Amazon's analytics, logarithms and metrics such as book descriptions, book titles and keywords in order to maximize your rank and sales. I will also teach you the differences between traditional and indie publishing, so that you can make the best decision as to which option is right for you. For those of you wishing to go the traditional route I will write posts about seeking agents as well as writing query letters and synopsis's.

9. Marketing and Promotions - These posts will teach you how to market and promote your work on book related social networking sites such as Goodreads and eBook promo sites such as BookBub.

10. Reviews - These posts will teach you how to get reviews and how to cope with negative ones. 

11. Fan Communications - These posts will educate you on the different types of fans communications and how to communicate with fans effectively. 

My posts will also feature interviews with successful authors, literary agents and publishers; as well as pioneers of the indie publishing community. 

All in all, writing these posts will truly be a rewarding experience not only for you, but also for me. My only wish is to take everything I have learned and pay it forward to you, so that you too can succeed as an author.

Thank you! I hope you all have a smashing day!

Stay Wicked,
Jill