Nicole Hesson's Blog
August 9, 2020
FREE Short Story!
I'm working on a new series called Hush Now. I feel like I've already talked about it a million times, so I won't ramble again.
July 29, 2020
Hush Now Series
Hello to all five of my fans!
July 28, 2020
#MarketingKicksMyButt
Can we talk about the month of July? It has been an insane roller coaster ride for me. First of all, COVID, am I right? Like, what is going to happen to the world? I have insomnia because of it. The silver lining here is that I'm getting a lot of writing done in the middle of the night. Haha... (Am I laughing or crying? No one knows).
I started the month with one full-length novel and one book of short stories published. I tried running a few test ads on my novel. They were terrible. I didn't know. I know how to write the books, not sell them! So, I way overspent on test ads, and in return, I got a handful of sales and page reads, and my first hater. I got a review that made me cry, you guys. It wasn't just like "Meh, this story and writing style wasn't for me." No, it was like, "This romance was a TRAIN WRECK and this book FAILED."
I cried and froze up and didn't even want to touch the other three books that I'd been working on and previously excited about.
But, the storm passed.
I got some encouragement from my family, friends, and other awesome indie authors. I decided to hold my head up high, wear my first bad review as a badge of honor, and keep f*cking going.
The next morning, I got an ARC review back for my second novel. Sobbing, guys. My husband was like "Oh, honey. It's gonna be okay! That lady was stupid!" And I was like, "NO! LOOK!" (you know, yelling through my tears). It was a five-star review, from someone that read my entire book in one night and loved it!
The next day, another ARC review came in saying that my book made them laugh out loud. YES! I'M FUNNY! I KNEW IT!
I published that book and whipped up some FB test ads for it. I learned from the terrible ad, so this one did a lot better. It's still not great, but it's better. I'll take it! At this point, Amazon ads were still elusive, mysterious, and headache-inducing. More on that later.
I started to get some more sales and page reads. I was still spending more on marketing than I was making, but there was a steady climb, and I thought, "Hey, it's okay. Customer acquisition costs are always high in the beginning."
Then, a few days ago, something amazing happened. I went to the beach for the afternoon with my family and some friends (with masks and social distancing, don't worry). When we got home that evening, I checked my KDP dashboard, and guess what? I MADE MORE THAN I SPENT!
Did that make me cry? You bet your ass it did. Why? Because I'm doing it! I'm figuring it out piece by piece and it's starting to work!
The next day, I was fully prepared for my sales and page reads to dip, and they did. But, the day after that, they went back up, and I had another day in the black!
Meanwhile, I was editing my third book. Yesterday, I published it and had another day making more than I spent! I'm doing it! Look, mom, no hands!
And guess what else? My damn Amazon ads started serving and getting clicks. I think I'm starting to understand how they work! I still have a long way to go to make them effective, but instead of staring at them and saying "What the $#%@@$$^" I can look at them and say, "Ooooooh, okay. I see what's happening. I see what people type in when they're looking for a new book." And that's huge for me.
Did any of that rambling make sense? Let me sum up the month of July in emojis. I think that might help.
I started the month with one full-length novel and one book of short stories published. I tried running a few test ads on my novel. They were terrible. I didn't know. I know how to write the books, not sell them! So, I way overspent on test ads, and in return, I got a handful of sales and page reads, and my first hater. I got a review that made me cry, you guys. It wasn't just like "Meh, this story and writing style wasn't for me." No, it was like, "This romance was a TRAIN WRECK and this book FAILED."
I cried and froze up and didn't even want to touch the other three books that I'd been working on and previously excited about.
But, the storm passed.
I got some encouragement from my family, friends, and other awesome indie authors. I decided to hold my head up high, wear my first bad review as a badge of honor, and keep f*cking going.
The next morning, I got an ARC review back for my second novel. Sobbing, guys. My husband was like "Oh, honey. It's gonna be okay! That lady was stupid!" And I was like, "NO! LOOK!" (you know, yelling through my tears). It was a five-star review, from someone that read my entire book in one night and loved it!
The next day, another ARC review came in saying that my book made them laugh out loud. YES! I'M FUNNY! I KNEW IT!
I published that book and whipped up some FB test ads for it. I learned from the terrible ad, so this one did a lot better. It's still not great, but it's better. I'll take it! At this point, Amazon ads were still elusive, mysterious, and headache-inducing. More on that later.
I started to get some more sales and page reads. I was still spending more on marketing than I was making, but there was a steady climb, and I thought, "Hey, it's okay. Customer acquisition costs are always high in the beginning."
Then, a few days ago, something amazing happened. I went to the beach for the afternoon with my family and some friends (with masks and social distancing, don't worry). When we got home that evening, I checked my KDP dashboard, and guess what? I MADE MORE THAN I SPENT!
Did that make me cry? You bet your ass it did. Why? Because I'm doing it! I'm figuring it out piece by piece and it's starting to work!
The next day, I was fully prepared for my sales and page reads to dip, and they did. But, the day after that, they went back up, and I had another day in the black!
Meanwhile, I was editing my third book. Yesterday, I published it and had another day making more than I spent! I'm doing it! Look, mom, no hands!
And guess what else? My damn Amazon ads started serving and getting clicks. I think I'm starting to understand how they work! I still have a long way to go to make them effective, but instead of staring at them and saying "What the $#%@@$$^" I can look at them and say, "Ooooooh, okay. I see what's happening. I see what people type in when they're looking for a new book." And that's huge for me.
Did any of that rambling make sense? Let me sum up the month of July in emojis. I think that might help.
FREE Short Story
Hey everyone! I promised this free short story a long time ago, and it was done a long time ago. Then we moved from Utah to Washington, and my life was a mess for a solid three weeks! I'm just now starting to pick up all of my "grand writing plans" off the floor. Let me just dust them off...
Okay, so this short story is about Tara and Ella's mom, Helen, from the Stone Girls books. It can definitely be read as a stand-alone, but I feel like it's best read after the first two full-length novels in the series. Both are available on Amazon and are in KU if you'd like to read them first! They can be found here:https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B087QPSDPR
And now, here is the PDF link to Even Though You're Lost! Download, read, enjoy, share!
Okay, so this short story is about Tara and Ella's mom, Helen, from the Stone Girls books. It can definitely be read as a stand-alone, but I feel like it's best read after the first two full-length novels in the series. Both are available on Amazon and are in KU if you'd like to read them first! They can be found here:https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B087QPSDPR
And now, here is the PDF link to Even Though You're Lost! Download, read, enjoy, share!
June 25, 2020
Even Though You're a Weirdo
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08BTPQ1Y6
Book Two will be here July, 15th, and I had a blast writing it! Ella, everyone's favorite sassy little sister from Even Though You're Wrong is back and all grown-up! Well, not too grown-up. I
May 17, 2020
Even Though You're Wrong
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087N3L951
It's finished -- my very first Romance! Let me tell you a little bit about it:
It's about young love. When the story opens, Tara Stone is 18 years old.It's about belief systems, and how sometimes they strengthen and lift us up, and other times they blind us and hold us back.It's about complex family relationships and healing.It's pretty clean! There is some language, but not a ton, and no sex scenes.There will be more books about these characters!
I got the idea for this book a very long time ago. In fact, I wrote a version of it back in 2017, but it was a hot mess! In the end, I hated the way I told the story, but I knew the bones were good, and I wanted to try again. I re-wrote the entire thing and made it five-thousand times better.
Tara is a good Christian girl. Jared is an atheist. They are both wrong. They are both right. I wrote a story that's close to my heart as I attempted to show that nothing is black and white and that it's possible to learn something from different viewpoints. Beliefs don't have to divide us.
If you read and enjoy, please leave a review!
May 15, 2020
First Things First, Let Me Introduce Myself
I'm surrounded by boys, and I write about love. That's funny, right? I think it's funny. Sometimes I wear pink when I don't even want to, and add flowers to all of the decor in our home just to make sure my femininity is noticed. It's loud at our house, and there are dirty socks, video games, and "weapons" everywhere, but really, my boys are the best. I think I'll keep them.
I've been writing since I learned to hold a pencil and spell the word "the," and in the back of my sixth-grade yearbook, it says that I'm going to be an author. Kids know things, so...
Words are my happy place. I love how you can say so much and bring someone's imagination to life with just a few, well-chosen words. It's a beautiful thing. I like the stories that make you ugly-cry and soul-search. I like the ones that keep you on the edge of your seat, skimming the words like a crazy person, so you can find out what happens next! I like the ones that make you laugh out loud, and the ones that make you sigh because they're so damn cute. Basically, I like all the stories.
Besides writing, I'm a fan of creating Pinterest fails, begging my kids to sleep, and pretending that I like working out.
Fun Facts about me:Nicole is my middle name. I lived in the Amazon Jungle for three months.I pushed out my two babies without drugs, like a crazy person.I lost my first baby when I was ten weeks pregnant.I am a PPD survivor.I hate social media.I've been with my husband for over ten years, and we can still make each other laugh.I'm a friendly ex-Mormon. I'm a tech wife that could spend hours debating the best VR headsets and the best VR use-cases. I had a headset before it was cool.I didn't initially want to write Romance. I thought I was a cynic, then I tried Romance, and it was fun! WHAT??? (I don't write erotica... just sayin'. If you like to read it or write it, though, you do you!)I'm pretty much as sarcastic as they come.
And I think that's all you really need to know about me. Click subscribe if you want to be updated on my super exciting life, my works in progress, new releases, exclusive freebies, books I'm reading, etc. Really, what more could you want?
