Yesterday I experienced my lowest review yet. 2 stars on Health and Safety.
At first, I felt kind of bad. I do tend to take things very personally. But, after reading the review, the reviewer had some very good points that I can use in both my future books and when I turn the novella into a full novel.
He found it hard to really get attached to the main character, Les. He wasn't overly impressed with the narrative, nor the development of how society came to be so stringent in its methods.
But what will potential buyers see? At the moment, there are only four reviews. Two five star, a four star and a two star. So far my sales haven't seemed to change for the worse. Perhaps they are just ignoring the poor review in light of the other better reviews.
I can only hope that more people review the book so I can get a better overall picture of how the majority of readers like it. Four reviews isn't a lot, especially since there have been well over a thousand downloads.
It would be nice if Amazon would allow a user to place a review through their kindle while reading or having completed their eBooks. It seems to me that once a user has finished a book, the last thing that they want to do is go back to the site to review it; unless they either loved it or hated it.
Please, do us indie authors a huge favor and review our books. We're competing against huge publishing companies that have giant marketing budgets for their books. We're competing against already well-established authors who have developed a following of loyal readers. It's not easy for an indie author to get their book out there and many times, even those of us with professionally edited works, our success is often left to luck.
I'm certain there are many great indie authors out there whose books are doing poorly and for no reason.
Review people! :)
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Indie Reviews
One thing that can help get your self-published eBooks noticed, or at least more enticing to potential readers, is to have reviews.
I've checked out Three Chapters and submitted Health and Safety to have the first three chapters reviewed. They don't guarantee a positive review, but that's not what I'm looking for. A positive review would be nice, but having a professional reviewer give their input to the book will give me the critique that I need to make my works stand out in the millions of eBooks currently on the market.
Right now, Health and Safety is sitting around #65,000 for its sales rank on Amazon. This isn't a bad number, as it does equate to a few sales a week. Not enough to quit my day job, but enough to make me feel good that people are purchasing the novella.
I'm working intently on the next novel, A Dreamer's Burden, which is about a young man who dreams about future disasters. He has one major problem. If he tells somebody about his dream, the dream won't come true, but he will save countless lives. This of course translates to the public viewing him as a crazed lunatic. I'm about 15% through the first draft and my editor had a brief look and is enjoying the outline.
I'm hoping that once I get larger novels available, plus more indie reviews, my books will begin to climb the ranks.
I'm in this for the long haul and with the positive reviews I've received across my works, that has helped give me the drive I need to keep writing.
I've checked out Three Chapters and submitted Health and Safety to have the first three chapters reviewed. They don't guarantee a positive review, but that's not what I'm looking for. A positive review would be nice, but having a professional reviewer give their input to the book will give me the critique that I need to make my works stand out in the millions of eBooks currently on the market.
Right now, Health and Safety is sitting around #65,000 for its sales rank on Amazon. This isn't a bad number, as it does equate to a few sales a week. Not enough to quit my day job, but enough to make me feel good that people are purchasing the novella.
I'm working intently on the next novel, A Dreamer's Burden, which is about a young man who dreams about future disasters. He has one major problem. If he tells somebody about his dream, the dream won't come true, but he will save countless lives. This of course translates to the public viewing him as a crazed lunatic. I'm about 15% through the first draft and my editor had a brief look and is enjoying the outline.
I'm hoping that once I get larger novels available, plus more indie reviews, my books will begin to climb the ranks.
I'm in this for the long haul and with the positive reviews I've received across my works, that has helped give me the drive I need to keep writing.
Friday, July 13, 2012
How to Market Effectively - In the Bathroom
So I recently made a trip from Moncton, New Brunswick to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia - a gorgeous little town where I had the great fortune of being born and raised. My wife and I drove the six hour trip and I thought, how can I market subtly on my way.
I'm actually quite the introvert and I hate the idea of face to face marketing: "Hey, I wrote a book. It's on Amazon. People like it. You should buy it!" Doesn't really work for me. Yeah, yeah, I know there are better ways to approach it and I'm getting to that.
On our travels, we drank a lot of fluids. Mostly Diet Pepsi and juices. This meant our bladders were at full capacity numerous times through our journey.
What do you do when your bladder is full? You urinate. We could have shaved precious minutes off our journey by urinating into the empty soft drink bottles, but we decided to be a little more civilized and stop at rest stops, Tim Horton's and gas stations and use their facilities.
Here is where my first line of marketing comes in.
I printed off about a hundred of these nifty little business cards. I found an original quote (by me of course!) for added humor. I showed a tiny graphic of the cover and the service that the eBook was on and added a link to the eBook's page through a QR code. That allows people with a bar code reader to scan it with their cell phone and view the Amazon page for the book.
We placed these in the bathrooms. Usually in a stall, facing the person that may be doing their business and in there for the long haul. "Little story to read while doing your business?"
Well, it was effective. We achieved a few sales during our trip (we didn't actually track them, but that could be done through a redirected QR link).
Try it! We've been placing these cards everywhere.
Oh, and Health and Safety is free today: July 13, 2012. Mwah ha ha!
I'm actually quite the introvert and I hate the idea of face to face marketing: "Hey, I wrote a book. It's on Amazon. People like it. You should buy it!" Doesn't really work for me. Yeah, yeah, I know there are better ways to approach it and I'm getting to that.
On our travels, we drank a lot of fluids. Mostly Diet Pepsi and juices. This meant our bladders were at full capacity numerous times through our journey.
What do you do when your bladder is full? You urinate. We could have shaved precious minutes off our journey by urinating into the empty soft drink bottles, but we decided to be a little more civilized and stop at rest stops, Tim Horton's and gas stations and use their facilities.
Here is where my first line of marketing comes in.
We placed these in the bathrooms. Usually in a stall, facing the person that may be doing their business and in there for the long haul. "Little story to read while doing your business?"
Well, it was effective. We achieved a few sales during our trip (we didn't actually track them, but that could be done through a redirected QR link).
Try it! We've been placing these cards everywhere.
Oh, and Health and Safety is free today: July 13, 2012. Mwah ha ha!
Sunday, July 8, 2012
The $0.99 Kindle eBook Price...
I experimented with the 99 cent price tag for Health and Safety for the past week, just to see what sort of response I got. Well, to be honest, I didn't get any response.
Perhaps the sheer number of eBooks that are priced at this level have deterred people. There does seem to be a lot of poorly written work (I've read several dozen, but I'm not going to list them here).
I've increased the price back up to my original price point - $2.99. That seemed to have the best results for sales, even though the book is only a short novella (12k words). I'll leave the price here for another few weeks and then decide if I want to drop it somewhere between $1.09 and $2.39. I'm sure I'll find a sweet spot for the novella sized eBook eventually.
I'll be releasing a new Mouse short this week. After getting back from a nice little vacation in Nova Scotia, my mind is clear and ready to work once more.
Perhaps the sheer number of eBooks that are priced at this level have deterred people. There does seem to be a lot of poorly written work (I've read several dozen, but I'm not going to list them here).
I've increased the price back up to my original price point - $2.99. That seemed to have the best results for sales, even though the book is only a short novella (12k words). I'll leave the price here for another few weeks and then decide if I want to drop it somewhere between $1.09 and $2.39. I'm sure I'll find a sweet spot for the novella sized eBook eventually.
I'll be releasing a new Mouse short this week. After getting back from a nice little vacation in Nova Scotia, my mind is clear and ready to work once more.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
The Health and Safety novella is too short!
Alright, I've had a few people ask me if I would expand on Health and Safety. People seem to be enjoying it and those who I've spoken with would prefer it to be a full novel, as it has the plot potential. I've gotten three nice reviews so far, which have made me quite happy. It's nice to have somehow uncovered this hidden talent. So, yes, I will expand it into a full novel, but not yet.
Right now I'm working on another novel which hasn't been named yet, but it is a psychological-mystery-thriller. (These genres all confuse me.) Once I'm done the first draft and send it off to the editor's, I'll work up the full length version of Health and Safety.
I've checked with Amazon and although those who have purchased an eBook are eligible to receive an updated version in some circumstances (minor edits, small additions, etc). This however, would not be one of those circumstances. When I release the full novel, I'll leave the price really low for those of you who have already purchased the novella, then I'll jack up the price to some ridiculously high amount, like $4.99 or something.
On another topic, there has been a bit of bad news from the editor in regards to The Connected: Origin of the Sleepers. It needs a lot of work. I'm thinking about doing a rewrite, as this was the project that got me started on the path of writing and I really want it to make it to publication. It's just not ready. But, that's why we have editors!
If you're an indie author considering going the self-publication route, get an editor. This is not an option. Your work will be released unfinished and people notice. If you can't take constructive criticism, you may be plagued to the bowels of the Amazon Kindle database where only the occasional eBook, if you're lucky, will sell.
Right now I'm working on another novel which hasn't been named yet, but it is a psychological-mystery-thriller. (These genres all confuse me.) Once I'm done the first draft and send it off to the editor's, I'll work up the full length version of Health and Safety.
I've checked with Amazon and although those who have purchased an eBook are eligible to receive an updated version in some circumstances (minor edits, small additions, etc). This however, would not be one of those circumstances. When I release the full novel, I'll leave the price really low for those of you who have already purchased the novella, then I'll jack up the price to some ridiculously high amount, like $4.99 or something.
On another topic, there has been a bit of bad news from the editor in regards to The Connected: Origin of the Sleepers. It needs a lot of work. I'm thinking about doing a rewrite, as this was the project that got me started on the path of writing and I really want it to make it to publication. It's just not ready. But, that's why we have editors!
If you're an indie author considering going the self-publication route, get an editor. This is not an option. Your work will be released unfinished and people notice. If you can't take constructive criticism, you may be plagued to the bowels of the Amazon Kindle database where only the occasional eBook, if you're lucky, will sell.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
And the reviews are in...
On June 18, 2012, I published Health and Safety on Amazon KDP. Just like I did with all of the little short stories about A Cat Named Mouse, I sent off a tweet, wrote a little blog post, hit up some forums - the usual.
But reviews have been slow across the board and that has been getting me down. I don't consider myself to be an author. I'm just some guy that puts a bunch of words together and hope they make a sentence. If I'm really lucky, those random sentences even form a plot.
I enjoyed writing Health and Safety and I ended it on a bit of a cliffhanger. It's really meant to be a primer to a much larger novel. As it stands, Health and Safety is just under fifty pages. Like the Mouse series, I wrote it while waiting for my pride and joy novel, The Connected: Origin of the Sleepers to be edited.
Today, after finishing my business cards, I checked the QR code on the sample card to make sure it would take people to the right book. I noticed something. I had two reviews!
Here is the first one, titled: Funny, thought-provoking novella! 5 Stars
And the second review, actually made me cry. I literally cried when I read it. I needed that so badly after the week I've been having.
The title of the second review: More talent, creativity, and originality in under fifty pages than many authors present with an epic. 4 Stars
I'm still kind of teary-eyed after having read these reviews. Maybe I'm going through male-menopause....
But reviews have been slow across the board and that has been getting me down. I don't consider myself to be an author. I'm just some guy that puts a bunch of words together and hope they make a sentence. If I'm really lucky, those random sentences even form a plot.
I enjoyed writing Health and Safety and I ended it on a bit of a cliffhanger. It's really meant to be a primer to a much larger novel. As it stands, Health and Safety is just under fifty pages. Like the Mouse series, I wrote it while waiting for my pride and joy novel, The Connected: Origin of the Sleepers to be edited.
Today, after finishing my business cards, I checked the QR code on the sample card to make sure it would take people to the right book. I noticed something. I had two reviews!
Here is the first one, titled: Funny, thought-provoking novella! 5 Stars
And the second review, actually made me cry. I literally cried when I read it. I needed that so badly after the week I've been having.
The title of the second review: More talent, creativity, and originality in under fifty pages than many authors present with an epic. 4 Stars
I'm still kind of teary-eyed after having read these reviews. Maybe I'm going through male-menopause....
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Health and Safety
I've just published a new novella, Health and Safety for Amazon Kindle. It will be free on June 20, 2012. Otherwise, it's $2.99. It's about 45 pages or 12k words long.
The main character is Les (somewhat modeled after myself). He suffers from anxiety that keeps getting worse and worse as time goes on. Wildly implemented rules and regulations are exaggerated for effect. There are some humorous little quips thrown in, but the theme of the story is how one person tries their hardest to follow all of the rules of society, but in reward, is gifted by endless amounts of ridicule, anxiety and the stigma of having a mental illness.
Enjoy the read and please review it (good or bad, honesty matters!)
EDIT: I've continued the free promotion until June 23rd!
The main character is Les (somewhat modeled after myself). He suffers from anxiety that keeps getting worse and worse as time goes on. Wildly implemented rules and regulations are exaggerated for effect. There are some humorous little quips thrown in, but the theme of the story is how one person tries their hardest to follow all of the rules of society, but in reward, is gifted by endless amounts of ridicule, anxiety and the stigma of having a mental illness.
Enjoy the read and please review it (good or bad, honesty matters!)
EDIT: I've continued the free promotion until June 23rd!
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