#success

Girl, Taken by Elena Nikitina is the best-selling book in a true crime books category and a literary award winner.
Check out the bestselling author store and follow Elena's blog where she shares tips for writers and discusses book marketing tips.

15 Steps to Writing a Successful Book. Step 3: Plan out its future before it’s written

Oct 31, 2021
6 min

15 Steps to Writing a Successful Book. Step 3: Plan out its future before it’s written

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” ― Eleanor Roosevelt I created The System of Actions a few years ago. Once I started implementing it, my #self-published book GIRL, TAKEN – A True Story of Abduction, Captivity and Survival became a #bestseller. The book was talked about on TV, on pages of magazines, and discussed on radio shows. The book’s #sales went up so as the book recognition. I want to share with you everything that worked for me.

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Author Elena Nikitina

Sep 21, 2021
4 min

Are We Open to Learning from Others?

It’s been a while since my last blog post. I secretly hope that you missed me so much that you have re-read all my previous blogs and all my published books. Now you are absolutely inspired by my story and ready to write your own #bestseller. All the following posts, starting next week, will be dedicated to practical advice on book #writing, #publishing, and book #promoting on a zero budget. Like, classes. So, get your backpack ready! I want to share with you everything I le

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Is Following Your Dreams Always the Answer?

Author Elena Nikitina

Aug 15, 2021
3 min

Is Following Your Dreams Always the Answer?

I’ve always enjoyed writing. Being a writer had been my pipe dream, probably ever since the very first time I had a crush and felt the urge to share my feelings on paper. As I was getting older, I secretly fantasized of becoming a writer, so that I would be able to live my life, to experience things and then to describe events so interestingly that the whole world would like to read about it. But I never had the courage for it, no time, no opportunity, until six years ago. Or

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Author Elena Nikitina

Jul 29, 2021
3 min

Is It Selfish to Follow Your Dreams?

In my journey, consistency and patience were the main measures for success. They were my best friends. Every Monday I kept going. I created a system and followed it. In a process, I changed and improved it. A few months later my system started showing results that demonstrated its effectiveness. I decided for myself that regardless of how tight my everyday schedule was, how many distractions I had in life, and how many things that I was going through in my personal existence,

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Author Elena Nikitina

Jul 10, 2021
2 min

Do Your Dreams Seem Out of Reach?

In my journey, perseverance determined my own situation. I was deeply motivated because I clearly understood that no one would do it for me. In the whole chain, I was the only link that held all the structures and connections between my book and the world. I was the single most important link. I was the one who was making the choice: to accomplish the job or blow it and let the book sink into oblivion. How fine is the line between seemingly unrealistic dreams, which often sto

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Is Perseverance A Secret of All Triumphs?

Author Elena Nikitina

Jun 20, 2021
2 min

Is Perseverance A Secret of All Triumphs?

In the previous blog posts, I told you about my disappointments and shattered dreams. Sadly to say, my book almost became buried in the "book cemetery", along with bundles of other unknown, unrecognized, and unappreciated books. At that time, Girl, Taken hit the lowest bottom and didn’t show any sales whatsoever, for many, many weeks. But I did not want to quit. I created a system and started following it. Instead of promoting the book itself, I decided to try making my story

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Author Elena Nikitina

Jun 13, 2021
3 min

For Every Rule, There Is an Exception

In the previous blog post I told you about cold email strategy. Some people think that cold emailing is spam. I disagree. Everything I have achieved on the book promotion journey - I have accomplished through cold emailing... I emailed journalists, reporters, and radio show producers. Almost every cold email led me to amazing results. My story was featured on world radio stations and the pages of magazines. Click to see all media appearances here But my main goal was to reach

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“Cold Email is Spam!” I Have to Disagree.

Author Elena Nikitina

Jun 1, 2021
3 min

“Cold Email is Spam!” I Have to Disagree.

Part II. Check older blog posts here. “Cold email is SPAM!” “It’s dead with no chance of resurrection." I have heard this many times. I have to disagree. Everything I have achieved on the book promotion journey - I have accomplished through cold emailing. I reached out to journalists, reporters, and radio show producers. It went very successfully although I had to use different strategies to receive responses. Almost every reply led me to amazing results. Cold emails and an a

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Turn Your Book into a Movie: A Pipe Dream or Reality?

Author Elena Nikitina

May 24, 2021
2 min

Turn Your Book into a Movie: A Pipe Dream or Reality?

What writer wouldn’t like to see her book turned into a movie or a TV show series? Which of us hasn’t fantasized about seeing characters that we’ve created and described, portrayed on the big screen? Even just imagining this brings an exciting rush under the skin. For the most self-published authors, this will remain a pipe dream, but for only a few – the most courageous and the most persistent – sooner or later, the dream will come true. I would like to relate myself to thos

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Cold Email Strategy in Book Marketing? Yes, Please!

Author Elena Nikitina

May 16, 2021
3 min

Cold Email Strategy in Book Marketing? Yes, Please!

You already know that my road to success started on Monday. Even though the first day of the week is usually considered the most undesirable day for everyone, it turned into one of the most wanted and waited for me. My Mondays were committed to my work towards book promotion. Every week brought several new contacts. They were coming from different public and free sources on the Internet and represented a variety of medias. The longer the list became, the more time I needed to

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Author Elena Nikitina

Apr 25, 2021
2 min

Are Mondays Really That Bad?

My American Dream started on Monday. (If you haven’t read the previous blog posts yet, please click here and check them out now). I dedicated the first day of the week to my “new” job: I had to work on my book success. In my student years, as part of a school program, we studied ancient myths about origins of the universe. One of the legends expressed that our ancestors believed our planet was flat and motionless, and therefore, it needed some kind of support. They imagined t

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GIRL, TAKEN

Girl, Taken by Elena Nikitina is the best-selling book in a true crime books category and a literary award winner. Check out the bestselling author store and follow Elena's blog where she shares tips for writers and discusses book marketing tips.

Girl, Taken by Elena Nikitina is the best-selling book in a true crime books category and a literary award winner.
Check out the bestselling author store and follow Elena's blog where she shares tips for writers and discusses book marketing tips.