|
EngineerSean posted:Never. I said it was erotica. It moved a couple hunded copies and a couple tenthousand pages read. Nothing breathtaking, but I was pretty happy with it.
|
#
?
Jun 22, 2016 16:08
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 20, 2024 00:43 |
|
|
ArchangeI posted:I said it was erotica. It moved a couple hunded copies and a couple tenthousand pages read. Nothing breathtaking, but I was pretty happy with it. You'll probably find that even the best erotica starts to fall off the cliff at that point. I mean, if it's only been up for like two weeks, un+republish. If it's been out there for more than a month I'd say just pull it and use it as EXCLUSIVE ONLY AVAILABLE IN BUNDLE fodder.
|
|
#
?
Jun 22, 2016 23:32
|
|
|
its one of the few times that pulling out works in erotica 
|
|
#
?
Jun 23, 2016 14:00
|
|
|
https://www.amazon.com/Kindle-eBooks/b/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&node=13632018011& I wonder if this is going to affect the way that KENPC's are worked out. IE that now only pages actually read will count towards the total, instead of every page before the furthest one recorded.
|
|
#
?
Jun 29, 2016 15:24
|
|
|
It looks like the last month Kindle Firsts weren't inorganically bumped a third time, but I didn't check so if they did it was some day before June 27. It doesn't really matter of course since nobody cares but me. Unfortunately, I also wasn't paying attention this weekend and missed the spot when the Kindle Firsts switched to the Top 6 (where they are now) so shame on me. Still, a nonfiction essay by some no-name is #6 in the Kindle Store and that's pretty lol. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0184ZLSN0 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0194UED9U https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AW25GRC https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01BMI4F0Y https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017TWBAFA https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AAAKSU6
|
|
#
?
Jul 3, 2016 23:20
|
|
|
EngineerSean posted:Still, a nonfiction essay by some no-name is #6 in the Kindle Store and that's pretty lol. Whoa, five reviews at a 3.5 star average. They could at least try and make this crap believable.
|
|
#
?
Jul 4, 2016 08:01
|
|
|
Bardeh posted:Whoa, five reviews at a 3.5 star average. They could at least try and make this crap believable. Why bother when nobody's paying attention? I brought this up in a self publisher group and the admin said "who cares" then quashed it as a conspiracy theory.
|
|
#
?
Jul 4, 2016 18:00
|
|
|
I noticed some of these recently when researching fantasy covers last week. One of them had 5 reviews and a sub 3.5-star average and had been out for over a year. It was in the top 10. Wish I'd nabbed a screenshot, I just rolled my eyes and moved on. It's frustrating because there's nothing we can do... Or at least it seems that way to me.
|
|
#
?
Jul 4, 2016 20:01
|
|
|
Barnes & Noble are going to start selling self pubbed books in stores. Thoughts?
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2016 15:31
|
|
|
Bobby Deluxe posted:Barnes & Noble are going to start selling self pubbed books in stores. Having not read the article at all and knowing it would never happen, I would very much like to see some of the utter filth I wrote years ago and that is still published on B&N in their stores.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2016 16:01
|
|
|
"Can I just check if you have a book in stock?" "Certainly sir, what was the author's name?" "Chuck Tingle. C H U C -" "Get out."
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2016 19:44
|
|
|
Bobby Deluxe posted:"Can I just check if you have a book in stock?"
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2016 19:56
|
|
|
It's only open to titles that have sold 1k+ dead tree so...
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2016 03:29
|
|
|
Hi everyone, I'm a newcomer to the self publishing scene. As my job takes up most of my time and my income is based on this, I'm not able to churn out more than say 4-8k words a week. My approach - I think - is to write up shorts, sell them individually at about 1,50 USD and then move on to the next idea. The main problem - if I want to make any money that is - is that 4-8k on a single story seems to work only for erotica...and not for other genres. So, what would your advice be? Blurb got too many run-on sentences? Cover crap? Make it longer? I don't mind making stuff longer or making nicer covers, but it's nice to bounce this idea off of some brains who've been doing this for a longer while than I have  Here's what I'm currently offering: https://www.amazon.nl/GHOST-TOILET-...rror+from+below Thanks!
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2016 21:07
|
|
|
The cover's terrible, the blurb is boring, the title makes it sound like a joke book, the price is wrong, and you're not going to make any money if it's not on the American Amazon site. I wouldn't bother with shorts in a genre like horror / science fiction unless you're going with a serial approach (which is still stories around the 15-20k mark) or using them as (free) promo material to lead into a longer work. An average of 6k a week means a 60k novel in a couple of months, and I guarantee you'll make more money off one of those in KU than you will with shorts like that. It's a bit harsh but at this point I'd basically advise you to essentially start over again.
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2016 21:55
|
|
|
Aaronicon posted:The cover's terrible, the blurb is boring, the title makes it sound like a joke book. I'd agree, it looks like it should be a joke/parody book though but it looks like a bad parody book with that cover with the awful font and the ms paint pentagram
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2016 04:51
|
|
|
I got more amusement from this:  than your book. Sorry dude.E: for more constructive criticism. The cover is bad, the blurb is bad, and the book looks bad. Maybe it's excellent, but it looks bad, and that's all that matters. The pricing is all wrong (just set it to 99 cents if you're going to price in this range). If you're looking to just write what you like, then by all means, carry on. However, if you want to make any money at all, you're going to need to reevaluate your strategy. For books this short it's erotica or nothing, basically, and even erotica isn't the moneyspinner it used to be. If you want to write horror and still keep your books relatively short, maybe create a shared universe for your stories to inhabit, and then write 15-20k word novellas in that world. Pay someone to create covers for you, keep the branding consistent across those covers, and you might get somewhere. Bardeh fucked around with this message at 05:13 on Jul 13, 2016 |
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2016 05:08
|
|
|
Shorts don't really sell. From what I understand the erotica shorts market isn't what it used to be. My suggestion: 1. Get a duotrope subscription and try to sell the stories to paying markets. 2. After the stories have been published and the rights revert to you, (or after you've gotten sufficient rejections that you deem them no longer viable) offer them free on a website. Use this to build a following, then 3. Get your following to support you on Patreon in exchange for early access to your stories. Hiding them behind a Patreon paywall preserves the first publishing rights that paying markets want to buy as they're not publicly available in any form. Key though is that you can sell them to paying markets and then give them away free to build a following (or sell them in the Amazon store if you prefer) but you can't do it the other way around. Once you've sold them on Amazon that eats up the first publication rights.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2016 05:11
|
|
|
OK, I actually borrowed and read Ghost Toilet. I read it all the way through. Unsurprisingly, it's full of poop jokes and godawful dialogue. Because I'm an immature idiot, I'll admit I smiled once or twice in a 'it's so bad it's kinda funny' sort of way, but your average horror reader is probably going to hate it and think it's extraordinarily puerile, because it is. If you're going for the 'it's intentionally bad which makes it funny' angle, then you really need to play that up in the blurb. E: Yes, I have better things to do with my time, no I don't know why I made this for GHOST TOILET of all books. 
Bardeh fucked around with this message at 05:58 on Jul 13, 2016 |
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2016 05:32
|
|
|
Thanks for the advice everyone! I'm pretty terrible at marketing/selling myself, (not to mention pricing and selling strategy) so I really do appreciate the feedback. Yeah, the intention is to write 'so bad it's good'. From what I get I need to do way more to improve the blurb and the cover to be able to pull that off, so people will see it coming. I'll work on writing longer books and improve the blurbs/covers. Bardeh posted:OK, I actually borrowed and read Ghost Toilet. I read it all the way through. Unsurprisingly, it's full of poop jokes and godawful dialogue. Because I'm an immature idiot, I'll admit I smiled once or twice in a 'it's so bad it's kinda funny' sort of way, but your average horror reader is probably going to hate it and think it's extraordinarily puerile, because it is. Also - holy smokes that cover's awesome!
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2016 06:47
|
|
|
Magnanimous Lurch posted:Thanks for the advice everyone! Feel free to use it. While you're in there uploading it, work on the blurb too and change the price to 99 cents. Also have a quick proofread of your manuscript and fix some of the minor spelling and grammar/punctuation mistakes. Go to https://www.mailchimp.com and create a signup form, then put the link in the back of the book. Get all this done now - I doubt Ghost Toilet is going to set the world on fire, but any signups will help in the future. Bardeh fucked around with this message at 07:00 on Jul 13, 2016 |
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2016 06:57
|
|
|
I can't be the only one who saw the title and was immediately reminded of the Patton Oswalt "Death Bed: The Bed That Eats People" bit.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2016 08:18
|
|
|
I like seeing new authors trying their hand at self publishing. Unfortunately the time for that kind of work came and went four years ago. I doubt you'd find any author of absurdist fiction making much more than a living wage nowadays.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2016 08:58
|
|
|
EngineerSean posted:I like seeing new authors trying their hand at self publishing. Unfortunately the time for that kind of work came and went four years ago. I doubt you'd find any author of absurdist fiction making much more than a living wage nowadays. I'd argue that you could call Chuck Tingle an author working in 'absurdist fiction', but yeah. There's money to be made in self-publishing, but something insane like 80% of the market is romance/erotica, thrillers or sci-fi/fantasy. If you're not writing one of those three things, you're peddling to an almost impossible to profit off of segment of the market.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2016 16:27
|
|
|
Popular Human posted:I'd argue that you could call Chuck Tingle an author working in 'absurdist fiction', but yeah. Admittedly, I haven't checked in a good long while, but I've never spotted a Tingler with a great sales ranking. Chuck's a god among men to be sure, but there's a difference between people loving his titles and actually buying his product. edit: I hope that times have changed and I'm way off base and that he's a tingillionaire by now. 
Trustworthy fucked around with this message at 16:37 on Jul 13, 2016 |
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2016 16:34
|
|
|
Popular Human posted:I'd argue that you could call Chuck Tingle an author working in 'absurdist fiction', but yeah. Bobby Deluxe fucked around with this message at 16:39 on Jul 13, 2016 |
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2016 16:35
|
|
|
Popular Human posted:I'd argue that you could call Chuck Tingle an author working in 'absurdist fiction', but yeah. There's money to be made in self-publishing, but something insane like 80% of the market is romance/erotica, thrillers or sci-fi/fantasy. If you're not writing one of those three things, you're peddling to an almost impossible to profit off of segment of the market. Agree on Tingle. Also, thank god I picked romance novels as my day job, and thrillers as my second job. (I don't mind writing romance, but I like writing thrillers).
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2016 16:37
|
|
|
LionArcher posted:Agree on Tingle. Also, thank god I picked romance novels as my day job, and thrillers as my second job. (I don't mind writing romance, but I like writing thrillers). I write smut to pay the bills and fantasy novels on the side. The friends/family who would be put off by the truth think "oh, he makes money writing books like Game of Thrones" and the cool people who are close to me know nah, the vast majority of my money comes from smutbux. It's nice to have something 'legit' to point to when somebody wants to read something you've written. edit: also a cursory glance at Tingle shows he's the #16th top ranked author in Erotica right now, so he/she is probably pulling down a pretty decent paycheck. Popular Human fucked around with this message at 16:54 on Jul 13, 2016 |
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2016 16:51
|
|
|
Popular Human posted:I write smut to pay the bills and fantasy novels on the side. The friends/family who would be put off by the truth think "oh, he makes money writing books like Game of Thrones" and the cool people who are close to me know nah, the vast majority of my money comes from smutbux. It's nice to have something 'legit' to point to when somebody wants to read something you've written. Chuck gets a ton of media attention - I'm sure he's doing alright for himself. Recently he had the Hugo nominated book and the Brexit book in the news, both of which have probably made him a very decent amount. He's also got a huge back catalog, and I'm still convinced that he's just a side project for an already successful romance author.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2016 18:02
|
|
|
Bardeh posted:He's also got a huge back catalog, and I'm still convinced that he's just a side project for an already successful romance author.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2016 18:11
|
|
|
Lol if you actually look at his sales ranks you can make a pretty educated guess on his income and if a thousand bucks a month sounds like a good living wage for the guy at the near top of a genre, then by all means keep shoving that square peg in that round hole by writing GHOST TOILET.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2016 18:15
|
|
|
ALSO if you ever start any business in any industry by looking at the guy at the very top without also looking at the thousands of broken dreams along the way, you deserve the failure you get.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2016 18:19
|
|
|
EngineerSean posted:ALSO if you ever start any business in any industry by looking at the guy at the very top without also looking at the thousands of broken dreams along the way, you deserve the failure you get. I have a friend who's been published in dead trees back in the day She's been trying to finish her new post apocalyptic cash in like it's gonna be her million seller The actual apocalypse is gonna be here before she finishes at this rate and if she does finish it it's not going to make what she thinks it will Alas
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2016 19:24
|
|
|
syscall girl posted:I have a friend who's been published in dead trees back in the day Made me laugh, thanks. I think we all know someone like this.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2016 19:57
|
|
|
syscall girl posted:I have a friend who's been published in dead trees back in the day I know someone who had a casual-but-decent little mystery-writing gig going. She put her series on hold to randomly churn out a post-apoc zombie book, and for some reason published it on her mystery pen name. Judging by its lack of reviews and abysmal ranking, the real post-apocalypse is currently playing out on her KDP earnings graph.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2016 20:35
|
|
|
EngineerSean posted:Made me laugh, thanks. I think we all know someone like this. Ugh, I'm having flashbacks to an old roommate's friend raving to me about how she was gonna "change the world with [her] words". In her defense, I seem to remember finding out she was bipolar or something later on and I know that can impact the way people interact with reality, but there's really nothing quite like being twenty and trying to sit someone more than half a decade older than you down and go, "okay, so what's your gameplan? Let's talk publication, promotion, getting people to read your goddamn poo poo in a realistic scenario," and having them repeatedly come back at you with a bunch of vague hand-waving and nearly religious excitement about how it was all going to happen somehow, someday. I never did figure out if she made me more frustrated than I was just really goddamn sad for her (because I think we all know how well that gameplan turns out for people).
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2016 20:36
|
|
|
Bardeh posted:Feel free to use it. While you're in there uploading it, work on the blurb too and change the price to 99 cents. Also have a quick proofread of your manuscript and fix some of the minor spelling and grammar/punctuation mistakes. Go to https://www.mailchimp.com and create a signup form, then put the link in the back of the book. Get all this done now - I doubt Ghost Toilet is going to set the world on fire, but any signups will help in the future. Using it, working on it, changing it. Proofread is a little tricky to get at this moment - will have to do this over the weekend. Made and added the mailchimp. Honestly, thanks! Not aiming at the throat of the world just yet - just starting from the bottom. syscall girl posted:I have a friend who's been published in dead trees back in the day This. Got more than a few friends who think like this - one has a plan for a new Game of Thrones/Pratchett crossover and another planning out an epic sci-fi saga for years etc. I figured, I'd fail rather early and often and learn from that rather than sitting in a room for years with no result.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2016 21:47
|
|
|
Magnanimous Lurch posted:Using it, working on it, changing it. This is a great attitude so I'm glad you're taking the right lessons from our friendly jabs. If I was waiting to publish until I had the perfect book, I'd still be waiting instead of being a millionaire. Post all your books here and we'll help you become better.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2016 21:50
|
|
|
Magnanimous Lurch posted:
drat GoT and Discworld We get a good cop with a dragon lady wife walking the streets of Westeros and not dying of stupidity
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2016 21:54
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 20, 2024 00:43 |
|
|
Amazon's keeping it spicy: every product on their store just lost it's sales rank. :O Edit: And it's back! Jalumibnkrayal fucked around with this message at 02:50 on Jul 14, 2016 |
|
#
?
Jul 14, 2016 02:44
|
|
