Natasha Duncan-Drake – Author

Natasha Duncan-Drake with Various Book Covers - Featured Image
Click here to see all books by Tasha

Pseudonyms: Tasha D-Drake, Tasha Duncan

Bio

Natasha is a British author with Wittegen Press and has been publishing genre fiction since 2011. Her work includes everything from horror to young adult fantasy and she has never met a genre she didn’t like. A prolific producer of short stories and novels alike, Natasha currently has over twenty five titles in her back catalogue with further releases always imminent.

Natasha has been writing since she was a young girl ever since she read The Hobbit at Primary School. She is a big fan of science fiction, fantasy and horror in all their forms and is a big advocate of fanfiction as a great tool for writers to polish their skills in a welcoming and supportive community.

Before establishing Wittegen Press with her twin sister, Sophie Duncan, Natasha was a database and systems consultant. She combines these skills with her writing to create and manage her career in the bold new eBook market.

Press kit downloads: Bio and Contact LinksHiRes Photo | Details of All Tasha’s Books


Contact Information

twitter: @beren_writes | Facebook | G+ | Tumblr | Livejournal | Fanfic on AO3 | Goodreads | Amazon Author Profile | Wattpad

Scroll down to see the most recent posts from Tasha’s Personal Blog and she is also a contributor to the Wittegen Press Blog. Both have free fiction, information about books, reviews of books and films and lots more.

If you would like to email Tasha, please use this Contact Form


Tasha’s Latest Personal Blog Posts

click to see the posts

(to visit the whole blog click here) 

Tasha's Thinkings

Welcome to my blog! Here you will find tips on writing/publishing, recipes, reviews, fiction and more.

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone has a lovely Christmas season, or at least a peaceful one. Love and hugs to all.💖

Here's looking forward to a wonderful 2023 (it has to be, doesn't it ... the last few years must have just been saving up to make it amazing, it's the only explanation).



Check Out My Fiction YouTube Channel

Tales with Tasha - YouTube

Each week we have a theme and so there will be something for all tastes.
  • 🎤Micro stories as YouTube Shorts Monday - Sunday- for fun quick viewing
  • 🕮A longer story from time to time

Tasha's Social Media

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Receive 2 FREE eBooks just for signing up and a free short story once every month on Free Fiction Friday.


Two books covers - one with a woman firing guns above the title "Assassin's Blood" the other with a woman screaming and glowing with the title "Curse of a Banshee"

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Author: Tasha Duncan-Drake
Posted: December 24, 2022, 11:09 am
Tales with Tasha - YouTube - Christmas Romance - What to do if the angel falls from the tree - classical bronze angel statue in front  of a Christmas tree, with a red background with Christmas snow decoration.

Fallen Angel: A Christmas Romance

BAD Timing? Now This Is AWKWARD! 
🎄 😇 (Christmas Romance Short Story) #comedy


Hello, Lovelies. I hope you are all doing well, Long time no talk. Let's just say it's been a bit of a year and look forward to Christmas and 2023 💝

My YouTube channel Tales with Tasha, is still going strong and slowly building an audience. Please, do check it out if you haven't already. New stories every day as YouTube shorts :- some fun, some terrifying, some mystifying and more.

This week I have a longer story as well, in the spirit of Christmas. You can listen for free at Tales with Tasha and pick up a copy at all the usual eBook places as well. Great for sitting down to over a nice cup of hot chocolate, or you beverage of choice.

Fallen Angel: A Christmas Romance

LGBTQ+ Christmas Romance 

Kay is preparing for her and her husband Greg’s annual Christmas party when the angel falls off her tree. She’d put him right back up there, only now he’s six foot two, naked and adorably confused. Not one to argue with Christmas magic, Kay sets about trying to figure out what is going on as well as make sure her guest is no longer sans clothes.

7 Christmas themed micro stories also included.
Buy Links

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Author: Tasha Duncan-Drake
Posted: December 22, 2022, 12:13 pm
Most Important Thing About Titles on YouTube

YouTube How To:
Most Important Thing About Titles

I have watched many, many YouTube how to videos on what to do to make the algorithm love a video, and I have tried lots of their tips. What I am coming to realise is this:

It does not matter how good your video content is if you are a small channel, the only way to get ahead is to play the game and chase the algorithm.

One proviso, is that I am talking about my experience with YouTube shorts, which is one of the best ways to grow a channel from scratch at the moment. Longer videos require other techniques as well, but there is a lot of crossover.

The number 1 tip that seems to finally be working for my channel is this:

❗Write the title before even starting the video.

I spent months deciding on my stories, then trying to come up with titles that would grab viewers, and I was getting a steady viewership, but it had completely stalled in new subs and viewing number. In the past 2 weeks I have completely changed my strategy and my views have gone up considerably, so has my like count, as well as gaining new subscribers. I mean, it's nothing astronomical yet, but growth is growth.

This is my strategy:

  1. Sunday, go to "What is popular on YouTube" playlist.
  2. Look at the most successful topics.
  3. Create click-bait titles for my five shorts for that week, based on various hot topics.
  4. Decide on my overall story themes (first week I did Midsomer Murder parodies, this week comedy horror)
  5. Come up with stories that incorporate the title somehow, but fit the theme.

An Example

  1. One of the popular topics was Minecraft, so I came up with the following title: Minecraft Mystery?! 🤯 #shorts (1 min story) (Midsomer Murders Parody)
Note that the end of my title does not hide the true nature of my short, I do not want to lie to people and make them feel betrayed. However, it does count on the fact most people scan the beginning of the title first and don't bother with the end.
  1. The story itself is a ridiculous murder in a craft shop in an old mine.
It technically fits the title and it's supposed to be funny, so will hopefully make them smile and even if they have been tricked, they won't mind that much.

Results


From getting anywhere from 10 to around 100 views on a vid, using this technique I managed to get all of last weeks vids to around 200 views, and some of my older titles are getting some more views too. I link to a different playlist at the end of Monday's vid and the playlist for the week from every other vid that week.

Of course it does depend on the topic, and sometimes I get it wrong. This week, Monday's vid, only has 40 views and I'm planning on changing up the title some more once I can think of how to do it, however, Tuesday's, is currently at 1,150 and still going up.
It’s a SCAM! Grifter Alert! 👿 #shorts (1 min story) (FUNNY Ghost Story)
Changing the title can work too - one of last week's vids did not do well overnight, so I changed up the title and managed to bring it up to the same level as the others. It's a bit of a game against the algorithm, if you haven't realised that yet 😉.

Conclusion

There are many factors in creating a good title, but getting the popular buzz words in there, seems to be a really, really important one. So far the one that gets the most traction for me is "Scam/Scammer". It is a sad fact of life that negative connotations get more hits. However, if I can get a bit of humour into someone's life using a click-baity title, I count it as a good thing.

We shall have to see how this continues to pan out.

Updates

25-Aug-22: Wednesday's vid has ~480 views this morning, so not as good as "Scam", but "Scandal" seems to be a good word. 

Still messing with Monday's title to try and get the vid seen - have not found a golden combination yet 😉.

SCANDAL at the PALACE! Princess of Nowhere!😲 #shorts (1 min story) (FUNNY Ghost Story)



Check Out My Fiction YouTube Channel

Tales with Tasha - YouTube

Each week we have a theme and so there will be something for all tastes.
  • 🎤Micro stories as YouTube Shorts Monday - Friday - for fun quick viewing
  • Longer stories as specials from time to time.

Tasha's Social Media

📚Join My Newsletter📚


Receive 2 FREE eBooks just for signing up and a free short story once every month on Free Fiction Friday.


Two books covers - one with a woman firing guns above the title "Assassin's Blood" the other with a woman screaming and glowing with the title "Curse of a Banshee"

List hosted on MailChimp, information will only be used for Newsletter contact, and we do not send spam.
Author: Tasha Duncan-Drake
Posted: August 24, 2022, 9:44 am
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