Self-Publishing Goons: Yep, people buy it!

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > Self-Publishing Goons: Yep, people buy it!

PoshAlligator: Jan 9, 2012; When SEO just isn't enough.

magnificent7 posted:

It's encouraging to see their posts, calling out agents to take on self-pubs with a proven track record, or even publishers to recognize them. I'm STILL struggling with whether to waste my time finding an agent or waste my time micro-managing the self-pub structure and annoying the poo poo out of everybody I know to buy my book. Surely there's something in between? Self-pub, and then pay a PR agent?

What agents wouldn't take on self-pubs with a proven track records? Agents even get interns to sniff out good ones for them. I don't it needs "calling out", agents love money, and already do this.

# ? Sep 19, 2014 20:17

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# ? Apr 19, 2024 02:20

EngineerSean: Feb 9, 2004; by zen death robot

I dunno what an agent can do for me at 15%, probably nothing that I don't do better myself.

# ? Sep 19, 2014 20:33

Tubular Spacial: Aug 18, 2013; by Ralp

A1989 Honda Accord posted:

Cover

Almost ready to go. Any advice?

Shouldn't it be cypress, the conifer, rather than Cyprus, the Mediterranean island nation?

# ? Sep 19, 2014 23:38

A1989 Honda Accord: Sep 9, 2014

Tubular Spacial posted:

Shouldn't it be cypress, the conifer, rather than Cyprus, the Mediterranean island nation?

Yes, there's a story behind why it's spelled that way.

# ? Sep 20, 2014 03:13

EngineerSean: Feb 9, 2004; by zen death robot

A1989 Honda Accord posted:

Yes, there's a story behind why it's spelled that way.

You just made yourself a sale

# ? Sep 20, 2014 04:20

satsui no thankyou: Apr 23, 2011

its the only story in the book i cant just read on the blurb...

# ? Sep 20, 2014 06:18

SmockJoc: Oct 4, 2004

So here�s my book. Big thanks to everyone in the fiction writing discussion thread. I mostly lurked but gained invaluable advice from the regulars there over the years.

March of the Firebugs is a �younger� YA novel with fantasy/steampunk influences. The cover was created by the talented Martina Cecilia who I was lucky enough to connect with on deviantart. I�m running my promotion now so the book is free from today until 9/24/2014.

�Considering the risk, I think it�s time to tell Rook the truth.�

Bizarre things have been happening to fifteen-year-old Rook. Strangers chased him through downtown. Some weird kids and their pets froze him with magic. And the TV keeps turning on and off when an odd blue lizard scurries past the electronics. Then one night a fiery swarm of supernatural insects set fire to the house. Tracing their origin to another world of gears and steam, Rook hunts for his estranged father and discovers the secrets of his heritage. He must discover who he is as well as find the courage to overcome his fears. Can Rook halt the spread of the Firebugs before everything he knows is destroyed?

Here�s the link.

# ? Sep 20, 2014 15:16

Sundae: Dec 1, 2005

SmockJoc posted:

So here�s my book. Big thanks to everyone in the fiction writing discussion thread. I mostly lurked but gained invaluable advice from the regulars there over the years.

Here�s the link.

Congrats on publishing!!

I absolutely love your chapter headers. I snagged a copy to check out how they look on various e-readers, and they're really snazzy. Well done on making the book interior stand out a little.

I feel like the blurb could use a little work, but I have no idea what to suggest so ignore me on this one. :haw:

# ? Sep 20, 2014 15:46

SmockJoc: Oct 4, 2004

Thanks! The chapter headers were a pain to get right. Lots of resizing, trying different file types and such. At first I attempted to format the ebook document with calibre but that caused each of the interior pictures to skew in an odd manner depending on the viewed device. So stay away from that program if you're adding in pictures, unless there was just some simple change or option I missed.

# ? Sep 20, 2014 16:28

Szmitten: Apr 26, 2008

The cover is just so good that I had to download the book.

Only thing, you've reminded me, and I've noticed this in almost every single selfpub ebook/physical book in and out of this thread: The first paragraph of a chapter shouldn't be indented. You notice some weird borderline subliminal poo poo when you're learning how to format this stuff.

# ? Sep 20, 2014 16:31

psychopomp: Jan 28, 2011

Re-did a few of my covers recently, and some of them have been featured by Kobo. Sales and free downloads are up. So yeah, make a cover that looks like it "fits" alongside the others in your genre, but stands out and is distinct.

# ? Sep 20, 2014 17:13

Sundae: Dec 1, 2005

Szmitten posted:

Only thing, you've reminded me, and I've noticed this in almost every single selfpub ebook/physical book in and out of this thread: The first paragraph of a chapter shouldn't be indented. You notice some weird borderline subliminal poo poo when you're learning how to format this stuff.

Which e-reader are you reading them on? It's probably authors forgetting about correct formatting, but depending on the e-reader, sometimes it ignores your stylesheet indents.

For example, one of my books starts with...

code:

<p class="first-in-chapter"><span>I</span> rest of text goes here...

with stylesheet settings of...

code:

.first-in-chapter {
    border-bottom: 0;
    border-top: 0;
    display: block;
    font-size: 1.5em;  //varies, depending on overall design.  Usually left at 1em to avoid compatibility issues
    line-height: 1.2;
    orphans: 2;
    padding-bottom: 0;
    padding-top: 0;
    text-indent: 0;  //The magical non-indent for the first chapter's paragraph!  
    widows: 2;
    margin: 0.5em 0
    }

On the Kindle Fire and Paperwhite lines, this creates a larger first letter and a non-indented first paragraph in each chapter, with text wrapping around that first slightly-larger letter. However, on the older Kindles, the read.amazon.com site, and on the Nook B&N readers, this does sweet gently caress-all and the e-reader ignores the entire stylesheet, instead forcing its own to overwrite what the author intended. Result: Indented first paragraph exactly like everything else in the book.

No idea what it does on an iPad or phone. I'd rather stick my face in a jar full of bees than read a book on a phone.

# ? Sep 20, 2014 17:35

Sammich Johnson: Oct 10, 2012

SmockJoc posted:

So here�s my book. Big thanks to everyone in the fiction writing discussion thread. I mostly lurked but gained invaluable advice from the regulars there over the years.

March of the Firebugs is a �younger� YA novel with fantasy/steampunk influences. The cover was created by the talented Martina Cecilia who I was lucky enough to connect with on deviantart. I�m running my promotion now so the book is free from today until 9/24/2014.

�Considering the risk, I think it�s time to tell Rook the truth.�

Bizarre things have been happening to fifteen-year-old Rook. Strangers chased him through downtown. Some weird kids and their pets froze him with magic. And the TV keeps turning on and off when an odd blue lizard scurries past the electronics. Then one night a fiery swarm of supernatural insects set fire to the house. Tracing their origin to another world of gears and steam, Rook hunts for his estranged father and discovers the secrets of his heritage. He must discover who he is as well as find the courage to overcome his fears. Can Rook halt the spread of the Firebugs before everything he knows is destroyed?

Here�s the link.

This looks so good that I turned into a big dumb customer and immediately hit BUY NOW WITH 1-CLICK without reading the whole blurb, checking the Look Inside, or even glancing at the price. Can't wait to read it. Hope it does awesome for you!

# ? Sep 21, 2014 00:24

Hijinks Ensue: Jul 24, 2007

Has anyone been setting their books up for pre-order on Amazon? My next book won't be out til November but I've put it up for pre-order and already have a few orders. I'm hoping I get more next month when I have a BookBub promo going.

# ? Sep 21, 2014 00:43

Yooper: Apr 30, 2012

Hijinks Ensue posted:

Has anyone been setting their books up for pre-order on Amazon? My next book won't be out til November but I've put it up for pre-order and already have a few orders. I'm hoping I get more next month when I have a BookBub promo going.

I tried the early release on my last book. I had two weeks of early release and had a few dozen sales. Not sure how much it helped as my sales didn't take off until two weeks after release.

I don't see much reason not to use it.

# ? Sep 21, 2014 01:29

Sundae: Dec 1, 2005

Yooper posted:

I don't see much reason not to use it.

There are some algorithmic reasons not to use it, if anyone cares for details.

# ? Sep 21, 2014 01:58

EngineerSean: Feb 9, 2004; by zen death robot

Sundae posted:

There are some algorithmic reasons not to use it, if anyone cares for details.

I feel like the last time I tried this I fell flat on my face, maybe you can do it better

# ? Sep 21, 2014 04:01

Jalumibnkrayal: Apr 16, 2008; Ramrod XTreme

Sundae posted:

There are some algorithmic reasons not to use it, if anyone cares for details.

It's something to do with pre-orders not helping with sales rank once your book goes live, right?

# ? Sep 21, 2014 15:04

Sundae: Dec 1, 2005

EngineerSean posted:

I feel like the last time I tried this I fell flat on my face, maybe you can do it better

I'll certainly give it a shot.

Quick and dirty Amazon basics:

#1 - Amazon wants to sell books. (Well no duh.)
#2 - They want to sell whatever sells, regardless of whether it's a self-pub or a trad-pub. (If the customer wants it, they'll give it to them.)
#3 - Amazon believes that it is good for sales, in the long run, to make sure people see new things instead of the same old stuff. (Do you really want Twilight and The DaVinci Code to be the top books in any given search result FOREVER? Mystery Section: Literally nothing but Agatha Christie until the end of time? A literature section of only Shakespeare?)
#4 - At release (unless you already have a big name for yourself) a book that is available for pre-order will not sell as many pre-order copies as it would actual release copies, per day. (Breaking News: More people buy something that exists than buy something that doesn't exist! Details at eleven!)

Therefore...

To support these goals, Amazon's search engine and website use several algorithms (exact details are in flux all the time and have probably changed by the time I wrote this sentence) to deliver what they believe is the best user experience for shoppers. One of these is skewing results / search suggestions (as you type, the auto-completes) based on your previous purchase history to provide what they think you are likely to buy, based on your keywords searched. The other one is the :siren:

popularity algorithm :siren:

.

The previous known data for the popularity algorithm indicated a 30-day rolling window of sales relative to other books. Its current details are unconfirmed as usual, but the general gist of it still seems to apply. In short, your sales visibility in searches, suggestions, etc, is a weighted combination of your POPULARITY (combined with an age factor) and your SALES. Over time, the age factor will drag you down and let other books start to take over. This is an issue if you have a #1 bestseller, but a potential boon if you're not a bestseller. (Do you really want to never, ever see Divergent stop hogging the top 5 slots of YA for all eternity? Even with its crazy sales, the series will eventually lose internal search popularity due to age, and sales will fall as it's no longer in everyone's faces.)

The popularity index projects your book's popularity based on its known data, and extrapolates to an undetermined degree where it has none. This means that if your book has been out three days and had crazy-pants awesome sales for those three days, the algorithm is going to look at it and say "Hey, people really like this thing! On a 30 day scale, that's a lot of sales. Really popular!" It is then going to start showing your book to more and more people. Think of it like that bullshit Facebook "more likes = more people see your post" thing, kinda. The more people who seem to want your book, the more popular your book is, therefore the more the site thinks other people will want your book.

On the other hand, if your book has been out for 30 days, sold 1 per day for the first 29 and the 61 on the 30th day, your popularity is 3 books per day. Third example: You release a book that sells 30,000 copies on day 1, zero copies for the next 29 days. You appear to be selling 1,000 copies (or more) per day and are going to be extremely popular. (This won't happen because people would buy your book with that kind of visibility, but bear with me for the example, okay?) Tomorrow morning is day 31. Your 30,000-sale day has just aged out of the popularity algorithm, so in our extremely unlikely / almost impossible example, you now have 30 days of sales that show zero per day. You are now completely invisible in the search results as far as preferential treatment goes, because in the eyes of Amazon, nobody wants your book.

Sooo.... long story short, Amazon shows your book to more people who bought other things like your book, provided your book appears to be more popular than all the other books like your book. If you're higher in the sales popularity algorithm than any other book using the relevance keywords of "cthulu's underpants", your book will show up above all the other novels about Lovecraftian lingerie in the search results.

A certain someone (not me) in this thread had a book on page #1 of the keyword "romance" after a particularly strong first week of sales last year. I was extremely jealous.

Still with me after that background info? Here's how this applies to pre-orders:

Here's an example (as of 21SEP2014) of a book with a pre-order: http://www.amazon.com/Ella-Micha-Infinitely-Always-Secret-ebook/dp/B00KANT97W/

Note that it has a sales rank.

When you are listed in the store, your timer has already started. Amazon is already treating your pre-order exactly like every other book in the store (with one key difference that I'll get to in a second), complete with the popularity algorithms. Jess's book will probably be a success despite this because she's had two or three #1 NYT bestsellers now, but for the rest of Planet Selfpub, we don't have that fantastic pre-existing audience. (Interestingly enough, it looks like she's out of her contract with Hachette for her newer books, but that's a bit of a tangent.)

For the rest of us, here's what happens:

#1 - You list your book as a pre-order X days in advance.
#2 - The hidden popularity timer starts.
#3 - Nobody buys your book in any substantial quantity on pre-order, because you don't have a million-reader fan base (and look at that rank on the Ella & Micha book... that's not exactly a good rank either!) Your book's rank quickly plummets.
#4 - In the background, Amazon is tallying how many people per day bought your pre-order, and is already making decisions about how popular your book is.
#5 - Your book actually comes out on release day.
#6 - Whatever promo you actually scheduled for release day seems like it has no impact whatsoever, and your book sinks like a stone.
#7 - You scratch your head and drink yourself silly as you wonder what went wrong.

Here's what went wrong:

Since you didn't have a whole bunch of sales during your pre-order period, Amazon decided you weren't very popular. Therefore, you didn't have a lot of visibility when your actual launch came, either. Even worse, that promo drive you ran where you sold 300 copies on launch day was blunted by the fact that Amazon thinks your book has already been out for X days. Actual impact: 300 sales / X. Did you do a 30 day pre-order? Whoop-di-doo, Amazon thinks your book's good for approximately 10 sales per day! (That's awful.)

Now let's look at it in reverse:

#1 - You list your book as a normal release-day sale, no pre-order.
#2 - The hidden popularity timer starts the moment your book is live in the store.
#3 - Your promo hits the shop on Day 1, 300 sales divided by X where X = 1 (or maybe 2 if you were careful due to Amazon sometimes getting buggy). This skyrockets your book in rank, too.
#4 - In the background, Amazon tallies up your poo poo and sees (x=2) 150 sales per day, says "Whoa, that's pretty great. Let's show this baby to more people and see if it sticks!"
#5 - Your book now sinks or swims depending on cover, blurb, subject matter, and (sorry) luck. You might still have a failure on your hands, but at least it's not doomed from the start.

THAT is why, for most people, pre-orders are a bad idea. You don't have a big enough fan-base to make it work, and there's really no reason to do it.

The one exception I mentioned earlier...

The one exception is that Amazon will report all those pre-order copies as day-one sales for the purposes of NYT and USA Today Bestseller lists. If you're trying to hit a list, they *may* be helpful then. Damned if I know, though - I have no letters. :haw:

# ? Sep 21, 2014 15:59

EngineerSean: Feb 9, 2004; by zen death robot

Sundae posted:

The one exception I mentioned earlier...

The one exception is that Amazon will report all those pre-order copies as day-one sales for the purposes of NYT and USA Today Bestseller lists. If you're trying to hit a list, they *may* be helpful then. Damned if I know, though - I have no letters.

As I stated in my explanation, this is obviously a pipe dream for your average mere self pub and should not factor into your decision. I'm going to quote the exceptions I had from my post, apologies to Milly Taiden if she ever reads this (I doubt she's a goon though)

quote:

Exceptions:

Milly Taiden's book is ranked so high and the position is so tenuous that it makes perfect sense to give people a chance to buy the sequel now. I don't mean to say that it will all fall apart for Milly before next month, but the chances that her book is still in the Top 20 when book 2 comes out is fairly low, and she should capitalize on it. This does not apply to your billionaire BDSM serial that is ranked 10k, or any erotica book really. Milly should expect to lose some visibility in a month but that should be super counteracted by the fact that she's getting hundreds of sales from people who loved the first book now.

Likewise, if you have the force to push a book into the stratosphere at any time, well you can do whatever the gently caress you want. Celia Kyle launching a Top 100 book at $5.99, HM Ward releasing a thousand Arrangements that make it to the Top 10, again this is the Top 1% at best. If you are a bodybuilder that can pull a train, well who the gently caress cares when you try to lift up a mere car.

# ? Sep 21, 2014 21:33

Hijinks Ensue: Jul 24, 2007

Oh well. What's done is done.

# ? Sep 21, 2014 22:51

Ghostwoods: May 9, 2013; Say "Cheese!"

Sundae posted:

I'll certainly give it a shot.

Thanks, Sundae. Fascinating.

# ? Sep 21, 2014 23:22

Jalumibnkrayal: Apr 16, 2008; Ramrod XTreme

Sundae posted:

I'll certainly give it a shot.

EngineerSean posted:

As I stated in my explanation, this is obviously a pipe dream for your average mere self pub and should not factor into your decision. I'm going to quote the exceptions I had from my post, apologies to Milly Taiden if she ever reads this (I doubt she's a goon though)

You guys are seriously awesome and an inspiration. Could anyone speak to how free book "sales" factor in all this? I've heard anecdotally that you want to end your KDP Select free promotion manually during book sale prime time. Otherwise it likely expires when your target market is asleep and your ranking sinks faster. Does this sound right?

Just published the first in a new series today. Hopefully this one will perform better than the one I wrapped up last week.

# ? Sep 22, 2014 01:17

EngineerSean: Feb 9, 2004; by zen death robot

Jalumibnkrayal posted:

You guys are seriously awesome and an inspiration. Could anyone speak to how free book "sales" factor in all this? I've heard anecdotally that you want to end your KDP Select free promotion manually during book sale prime time. Otherwise it likely expires when your target market is asleep and your ranking sinks faster. Does this sound right?

Just published the first in a new series today. Hopefully this one will perform better than the one I wrapped up last week.

I generally end mine at 6 pm EST, yes. Not only that, if you hit it just right (and it's always luck), you'll stay on the free list for a while after you're paid, and Amazon even has like a mea culpa that says "Why is this not free?" "Because the publisher changed the price" Something like that.

# ? Sep 22, 2014 01:42

Jalumibnkrayal: Apr 16, 2008; Ramrod XTreme

http://the-digital-reader.com/2014/09/22/amazon-publishing-crowd-source-next-books-now-recruiting-kdp-authors/#.VCDJLPRH3Vq

quote:

Late last week Amazon started sending out emails to KDP authors, informing them of a new program which Amazon plans to launch soon. According to the email, which was forwarded to me by author Angela Kulig and by Amazon's pr dept, when the new program launches authors will be welcomed to submit their unpublished book to what I would describe as a crowd sourcing program.

Details are still scarce, but the email did say that it will work like this:

Authors will be asked to submit their complete, never-before-published book and cover.
After a few days, we will post the first pages of each book on a new website for readers to preview and nominate their favorites.
Books with the most nominations will be reviewed by our team for potential publication.

quote:

Guaranteed advance & competitive royalties: You will receive a guaranteed $1,500 advance and 50% royalties on net eBook revenue.
Focused formats: We acquire worldwide publication rights for eBook and audio formats in all languages. You retain all other rights, including print.
5-year renewable terms, $5,000 in royalties: If your book doesn't earn $5,000 in royalties during your initial 5-year contract term, and any 5-year renewal term after that, you can choose to stop publishing with us.
Easy reversions: After two years, your rights in any format or language that remains unpublished, or all rights for any book that earns less than $500 in total royalties in the preceding 12-month period, can be reverted upon request -- no questions asked.
Early downloads & reviews: One week prior to release date, everyone who nominated your book will receive a free, early copy to help build momentum and customer reviews.
Featured Amazon marketing: Your book will be enrolled into the Kindle Owners' Lending Library, Kindle Unlimited as well as be eligible for targeted email campaigns and promotions.

WTF is Amazon smoking? Who is going to bring their book to retail finish by themselves then give it to Amazon for $1500 and less royalties than KDP? The special targeted emails and promos would have to be incredible.

# ? Sep 23, 2014 02:18

EngineerSean: Feb 9, 2004; by zen death robot

Jalumibnkrayal posted:

http://the-digital-reader.com/2014/09/22/amazon-publishing-crowd-source-next-books-now-recruiting-kdp-authors/#.VCDJLPRH3Vq

WTF is Amazon smoking? Who is going to bring their book to retail finish by themselves then give it to Amazon for $1500 and less royalties than KDP? The special targeted emails and promos would have to be incredible.

Those are equal terms to what my publishing company gives (except we don't give an advance) and better than practically every other publishing company.

They can and do send those targeted emails more often for their own imprints. Check the ranks on montlake books. They also seem to be guaranteeing reviews. If not for the "must never have been published" clause I'd consider submitting a novel or two.

One question is, it sounds like you can only request rights back if the book is nonperforming, but whats the actual length of the contract? Life of copyright?

# ? Sep 23, 2014 02:29

Szmitten: Apr 26, 2008

I don't really understand the benefit. Even if you're not nominated, you get that same initial exposure as the winner and you'll be able to self-publish anyway and retain the higher royalties. Granted I haven't gone through the process and am being totally naive but it sounds kinda pointless?

# ? Sep 23, 2014 14:49

EngineerSean: Feb 9, 2004; by zen death robot

Szmitten posted:

I don't really understand the benefit. Even if you're not nominated, you get that same initial exposure as the winner and you'll be able to self-publish anyway and retain the higher royalties. Granted I haven't gone through the process and am being totally naive but it sounds kinda pointless?

I mean this is more along the lines of "a traditional publishing company can do absolutely nothing for me" which is said sometimes in self publishing circles but is absolutely wrong. Would you pay for cover design even though you can put words on a picture? Would you allow somebody to self publish for you if they were an expert on visibility and kept part of the profit? If no, why not? There is a decent chance (almost 100%) that Amazon handling your publishing would more than double your sales.

# ? Sep 23, 2014 16:00

Jalumibnkrayal: Apr 16, 2008; Ramrod XTreme

EngineerSean posted:

I mean this is more along the lines of "a traditional publishing company can do absolutely nothing for me" which is said sometimes in self publishing circles but is absolutely wrong. Would you pay for cover design even though you can put words on a picture? Would you allow somebody to self publish for you if they were an expert on visibility and kept part of the profit? If no, why not? There is a decent chance (almost 100%) that Amazon handling your publishing would more than double your sales.

It will be interesting to see more details as they roll this program out. I'll rescind my prior scorn. Forgive me, Jeff Bezos.

# ? Sep 23, 2014 17:11

Sundae: Dec 1, 2005

Jalumibnkrayal posted:

WTF is Amazon smoking? Who is going to bring their book to retail finish by themselves then give it to Amazon for $1500 and less royalties than KDP? The special targeted emails and promos would have to be incredible.

Amazon has a lot of subscribers on its mailing lists and a looooot more sway with purchasers than any promotional infrastructure we can assemble. You may get a higher percentage turnout with your own dedicated mailing list, but you won't beat the sheer numbers that Amazon can pull with targeted mailers (and they have a LOT more data than we do).

There is something they can do for me that traditional publishers (and I myself) cannot do for me: guarantee me fantastic visibility on the website of the largest bookseller on earth. I've been watching what they do with their own imprint releases, and they definitely give them a ton of extra exposure and purchase-promos that the rest of us don't get.

I'll come right out and say it: If Amazon offered me a deal like that on my next book or offered me one of their decent Montlake deals, I'd be all over that poo poo. I'm pretty much exclusive to them as it is.

Edit: I might be able to give some insight on how good their targeted campaigns are in the next few months. A fellow author and I agreed to terms with Amazon for one of our books for an extra targeted promotional deal. Not a full program like your link talks about, but some extra oomph on one of our books courtesy of their targeted campaigns. We'll see what it does.

Sundae fucked around with this message at 17:52 on Sep 23, 2014

# ? Sep 23, 2014 17:50

psychopomp: Jan 28, 2011

EngineerSean posted:

I mean this is more along the lines of "a traditional publishing company can do absolutely nothing for me" which is said sometimes in self publishing circles but is absolutely wrong. Would you pay for cover design even though you can put words on a picture? Would you allow somebody to self publish for you if they were an expert on visibility and kept part of the profit? If no, why not? There is a decent chance (almost 100%) that Amazon handling your publishing would more than double your sales.

Would you give lifetime royalties to middlemen when you could hire a cover designer and editor yourself, then run a bookbub, all for flat fees?

# ? Sep 23, 2014 17:58

Sundae: Dec 1, 2005

Just to give an example of what I'm talking about for extra promo that you don't get as a normal person (or even a trad-pub):

http://www.amazon.com/Girl-Wire-Gwenda-Bond-ebook/dp/B00H9JRUWG/ref=zg_bs_3511261011_5

Publisher: Skyscape (October 1, 2014)

Skyscape is an Amazon imprint. A few weeks ago, this book was in the top 5 in the store, paid, as a pre-order. It is #30 in the store, paid, as a pre-order.

It is all over my Kindle whenever I turn it on (the lock-screen ads), gets recommended all over the site, and has an extra promo option that is not available to anyone else: Free pre-order for any Prime members.

It's effectively getting freebie promo treatment on the paid sale list. Of course, I have no idea what the author is getting out of it, payment-wise, but I cannot argue with the visibility aspect. Amazon throws all its weight behind the books it picks up for its own imprints, which (MIGHT) be worth its weight in gold. From what I've seen, every Kindle First book is an Amazon-owned imprint. Edit: Confirmed - all four books right now are Amazon imprints.

Hard to say until one of us gets an offer and agrees to it, though.

Sundae fucked around with this message at 18:09 on Sep 23, 2014

# ? Sep 23, 2014 18:07

moana: Jun 18, 2005; one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

psychopomp posted:

Would you give lifetime royalties to middlemen when you could hire a cover designer and editor yourself, then run a bookbub, all for flat fees?

All of the rich writers in this thread are saying yes, if the middleman is Amazon, we'd consider it. There's a reason for that, and the reason rhymes with Abracadabramazon.

# ? Sep 23, 2014 18:16

EngineerSean: Feb 9, 2004; by zen death robot

I feel like I'm at the top of the self publishing game and I'd still do it if I could submit older works.

# ? Sep 23, 2014 18:52

Elfforkusu: Jan 15, 2011

BILLBOARDING INCOMING

I wrote a(nother) book. I think it owns. I may be biased.

A fantastical, frozen world is all fifteen year old Eirlys has ever known. Her small mountain village thrives in the shadow of a snow-capped mountain, living off the virtues of a magical silver herb the people call "snow clover". But the dormant mountain is beginning to stir. Avalanches rumble down the mountainside, and villagers -- Eirlys's father included -- are falling ill with a mysterious disease borne of the cold's malice.

The superstitious recall old legends of a mighty dragon who ruled the peak, while others maintain that dragons are extinct... if they ever existed. Eirlys finds herself on a lonely quest for answers. What is behind the mountain's unrest? Is the dragon returning to reclaim its lair? And if it is: can she do anything to save her home?

This is a link.

... this will probably end up being free at some point, so don't buy it! (I am bad at marketing)

# ? Sep 24, 2014 02:03

Jalumibnkrayal: Apr 16, 2008; Ramrod XTreme

Elfforkusu posted:

... this will probably end up being free at some point, so don't buy it! (I am bad at marketing)

Joke's on you, it's free right now for us Kindle Unlimited subscribers. Get you a KU borrow!

Although you should reformat the blurb. It's all scrunched up on the left hand side, making it look like a poem.

# ? Sep 24, 2014 04:04

The Fuzzy Hulk: Nov 22, 2007; ASK ME ABOUT CROSSING THE STREAMS

Elfforkusu posted:

What is behind the mountain's unrest? Is the dragon returning to reclaim its lair? And if it is: can she do anything to save her home?

Also, this.

# ? Sep 24, 2014 04:57

Elfforkusu: Jan 15, 2011

Thanks. Had a copy+paste failure. Should be fixed whenever Amazon bothers to refresh their database.

And... it's free for Kindle Unlimited people?

Good!

# ? Sep 24, 2014 05:44

Jalumibnkrayal: Apr 16, 2008; Ramrod XTreme

Elfforkusu posted:

And... it's free for Kindle Unlimited people?

Anything in KDP Select is available in KU, which is like Netflix for books. Around October 15 we'll all find out how much we get paid per borrow (for the month of September). If you were expecting a fraction of $0.99, you should be pleasantly surprised.

Backmatter question: At the end of my stories I have Amazon links to my other stories. When I click these links on my Kindle it says "this mobile site doesn't allow you to purchase". It lets me add the items to my wishlist but I have to complete the transaction on a computer. Is this normal? Is there a link I can use to let my customers buy stories on their e-reader?

Edit2: Amazon launched Kindle Unlimited in the UK today.

Jalumibnkrayal fucked around with this message at 16:58 on Sep 24, 2014

# ? Sep 24, 2014 13:38

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# ? Apr 19, 2024 02:20

Sundae: Dec 1, 2005

Jalumibnkrayal posted:

Anything in KDP Select is available in KU, which is like Netflix for books. Around October 15 we'll all find out how much we get paid per borrow (for the month of September). If you were expecting a fraction of $0.99, you should be pleasantly surprised.

Backmatter question: At the end of my stories I have Amazon links to my other stories. When I click these links on my Kindle it says "this mobile site doesn't allow you to purchase". It lets me add the items to my wishlist but I have to complete the transaction on a computer. Is this normal? Is there a link I can use to let my customers buy stories on their e-reader?

Edit2: Amazon launched Kindle Unlimited in the UK today.

Unfortunately, depending on your e-reader, it is not possible to get around that mobile restriction. It exists on a Paperwhite and on the old Kindle, but (as far as I can tell?) doesn't exist on Kindle Fire models. If anyone else has found a way around it, please do pipe up!

KU in the UK today? I don't know whether to say "yay" or "poo poo."

I'm leaning toward Yay, but damned if I know.

Edit: Bookbub has now added UK stores to its coverage and will offer listings for a ~100,000-reader mailing list across the pond as well.

Sundae fucked around with this message at 20:30 on Sep 24, 2014

# ? Sep 24, 2014 18:24

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > Self-Publishing Goons: Yep, people buy it!

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