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Thalamas posted:Gandra and Lew (1) of the star ship (2) Blackbird have spent years on the edge of the galaxy avoiding Humankind (3) while trying to keep food on the table. The scavengers see an opportunity when the nearby colony world of Chantico is destroyed (4) by a terraforming accident. When they run into Enrico on the journey, he offers them a job too lucrative to turn down. (5) I think four different lines introducing characters is still too much - I'd either cut Farouk or merge the first two paragraphs, since it sounds like they merge pretty early in the story anyway. I actually took a stab at rewriting this but it was too difficult without personally knowing the beats of the story, so instead here's some footnotes based on things I think could be clarified or written better: 1. If they have surnames I'd add them. It always just sounds weird to me in a blurb to have first names only. That goes for the other characters too. 2. Salvage ship? Scavenger ship? Trade ship? I get the impression they're the edge-of-the-law kind of outfit beloved of space operas (I've written exactly that kind of story myself), so say so - it's more evocative than just starship. 3. What is Humankind - a political entity? Say so, otherwise it sounds like Gandra and Lew are aliens which I don't get the impression they are. If you find it too clunky to explain that in a sentence than just say "the long arm of the law" or something, it doesn't actually matter whatever the galactic government is called in your blurb. Also, cliches are fine in a blurb but "food on the table" is evocative of a nuclear family in the Midwest, not a rag-tag spaceship crew, I'd replace it with something like "scrape a living." 4. Swap for "devastated." "Destroyed" makes it sound like it's been Alderaan'ed out of existence. (I also think terraforming "catastrophe" sounds better than terraforming "accident.") 5. If Enrico is buying passage to Chantico, I'd establish that here and now in this sentence. "A stranger's lucrative offer lures them to the devastated planet" etc. 6. I definitely think all of this can be merged into the opening paragraph. 7. "Without backup" is an awkward phrase to start this with. Why is he without backup? Is he disgraced after a failed job? Has he gone rouge? Is he working for the good guys or the bad guys? I think there's a phrase there to establish both a) that he's working alone, but also b) why he's working alone which will also give us an insight into his story/position. 8. Way too vague, either cut it or explain more enticingly what the chance encounter is. Also I know you were told to cut this: quote:Obscured behind a curtain of ash, Chantico will intertwine their fates. ...but personally I always like to end on a note something like this, because otherwise it sounds like you're just rote listing your story beats and then stopping when you run out of characters. Overall though I would just add, don't sweat it - well, I mean, do sweat it because your blurb is really important - but it's totally normal to get really frustrated writing a blurb. I haaaaaaaaate it every time. I can't remember which author said "if I could sum my book up in a paragraph I wouldn't have written a whole book about it," but basically that - and there's a reason that trad publishing houses get someone other than the author to write the blurb. This is also why I've developed the habit of starting to draft the blurb well in advance of even finishing the novel's first draft - it's something which really benefits from being put in a drawer and then later re-examined, having its darlings killed, being broken down and rebuilt sentence by sentence etc over a period of months.
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Apr 23, 2022 06:49
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Man, I have an ad with ENT tomorrow, and apparently I set my countdown deal to start at 8 AM PST instead of earlier, so the discount would run before the ad is sent. I hope losing those first couple hours don't hurt me too badly...
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Apr 25, 2022 14:34
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What kinds of promotional discount letters are still getting good traction these days? Bookbub is still king but I'm noticing less of a profit and less of a tail than I used to get from places like Robin Reads and ENT, almost to the point where I'm really just breaking even. (Though I'm also running the same old backlist books, so that may just be diminishing returns for me personally.)
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Apr 26, 2022 09:18
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I don’t have books to compare myself, but I’ve noticed a lot of people complaining of the same thing lately in many of my writing groups. More than usual, anyway. Some are speculating it’s just the ‘post’-covid ‘everyone’s tired of sitting at home reading’ phenomenon.
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Apr 26, 2022 13:49
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freebooter posted:What kinds of promotional discount letters are still getting good traction these days? Bookbub is still king but I'm noticing less of a profit and less of a tail than I used to get from places like Robin Reads and ENT, almost to the point where I'm really just breaking even. (Though I'm also running the same old backlist books, so that may just be diminishing returns for me personally.) There is definitely a point of diminishing returns for them if you go to the well too often. I'm pretty out of practice when it comes to newsletter deals. I haven't used them in years because I put out two new first-in-series books last year, and I don't use those discount lists until I have at least two books in a series. Anyway, I'm using them as part of my launch strategy this time around. David Gaughran said ENT, Fussy Librarian, Robin Reads, Fussy Librarian and eReaderIQ were all good for the mystery genre, so that's what I'm going with. I whiffed on the ENT ad today because I didn't set my countdown deal for the right time, but they're going to let me into the email tomorrow. Tomorrow I'm running with ENT and Fussy Librarian. I suspect the discounted book 1 will sell in the tens, and the full price book 2 *might* sell 10 copies. Thursday it's eReaderIQ by itself Friday it's Robin Reads and Bargain Booksy I'm also going to slowly ramp up Facebook, AMS and BB ads through Monday (when the countdown ends) so my results from these emailer services will be somewhat tainted by that. Thursday looks a little slim, so I might try and spend big on ads that day. Anyway, it's fine, I'll probably have a couple newsletter swaps next week which will do well for me. I just want to make sure I have a nice, steady ramp through this week and into next. I'm hoping I can get my book attached to my co-author's new one coming next week, but he's way bigger for me and there'll probably be more ad dollars chasing his release than I can put out. KrunkMcGrunk fucked around with this message at 21:11 on Apr 26, 2022 |
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Apr 26, 2022 21:08
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Uh guys? Who else just got an email from Google Play about their auto-narrated audiobooks beta? https://play.google.com/books/publish/autonarrated/
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Apr 27, 2022 01:43
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Man, even on my 17th book launch I still struggle really badly with anxiety about the whole thing. Like, my strategy has always been to get this book out before I do my next co-authored book because my co-author has a way, way bigger audience so most of my sales of this book are going to come after the co-authored book is published, but I'm still sweating all the details and slightly panicking when sales don't go like I think they should--and that's all despite the fact that I have no *clear* number of how many sales I should have on a given day, because that's impossible to predict and will ultimately produce unattainable goals that will stress me out further. I should just be happy that the books sell and that people actually care enough to read them. This is all my stupid anxiety brain trying to solve problems that don't exist. Brains man! Can't live with em, can't live without em. KrunkMcGrunk fucked around with this message at 17:09 on Apr 27, 2022 |
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Apr 27, 2022 17:06
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Anyway, the answer to my problems is for me to shut up, chill out, and start working on the next book.
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Apr 27, 2022 17:09
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KrunkMcGrunk posted:Man, even on my 17th book launch I still struggle really badly with anxiety about the whole thing. Good to know the road ahead  Congrats on the book launch though  Me, I just finished my structural revisions today. Now, time to go back to the beginning for line edits. 
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Apr 28, 2022 09:32
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A review in case anyone is wondering about cover designers. Cross posting this from the fiction writing thread:Leng posted:I got a modified pre-made cover from Damonza.com (one of the recommended cover designers in the OP of the self-pub thread). They do cover work for trad publishers as well, so they really know their stuff. This is the terrible blurb in question: Petition (Resonance Crystal Legacy: Volume 1) Rahelu’s parents couldn’t afford to send their magically talented daughter to the Conclave so they did the next best thing: they sold what they couldn’t carry and left Chanaz behind. For they have heard that the Aleznuaweite Guild will train anyone in the resonance disciplines and everyone who is willing to put in the work can rise above the station of their birth to the level of their talent—even a foreign fisher brat without a coin to her name. When they arrive, Rahelu discovers that the reality of life in Ennuost Yrg is very far from her parents’ dream. Not only is their new home in the Lowdocks also home to the very worst denizens of the city, but her parents struggle to catch enough fish to stay ahead of the loan sharks—and Rahelu herself can hardly keep up with the privileged House-born Guild trainees. The only thing sustaining her is the thought of Petition Day. Once a year, hundreds Petition to join one of the great Houses. If Rahelu is accepted, she’ll be able to move her family out of the Lowdocks and achieve that dream of a better life at last. But the Houses have exacting standards—and only the twenty best Petitioners will win places as Supplicants. Rahelu’s parents sacrificed everything for that dream: will Rahelu be willing to do the same? Leng posted:and asked them to change a few things. I know some people go super overboard in briefing their cover artists/designers because they have very specific things in mind. I didn't. My request to them, verbatim: Leng posted:This is the cover. I'm tossing up between two options for pull quotes: I'm really happy with Damonza. Damon's put together a great team (I don't think he personally works on most of the covers anymore) and they're super quick in turning things around. The add-on prices for different formats of the cover (paperback, hardcover, foiling, audiobook, etc) are all in the range of $50-150 extra per so a no brainer. Currently debating on whether or not I should also commission the cover for book 2 now and stick it in the back of book 1 for sales. I technically don't need it but I'm sure it would boost sell-through if I set up a long pre-order or at the very least mailing list sign-ups or something. (I'm scared to set up a long preorder though because what if I have issues finishing book 2 and am super late with its launch? I don't want to lose goodwill)
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Apr 30, 2022 02:49
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Megazver posted:Really cool design stuff Megazver, I’ve recreated your cover design in PSD and I’m going to use it because it’s awesome. How would you like me to give you credit? I don’t have pms, unfortunately, but I’d really like to make sure to include you in the acknowledgments. And thanks again! I love it.
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Apr 30, 2022 14:41
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newts posted:Megazver, I’ve recreated your cover design in PSD and I’m going to use it because it’s awesome. How would you like me to give you credit? I don’t have pms, unfortunately, but I’d really like to make sure to include you in the acknowledgments. And thanks again! I love it. You can just put 'A thanks to megazver for the cover ideas' or something similar on the credits/thanks page, I suppose! You're welcome. Good luck with the book!
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Apr 30, 2022 17:15
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Megazver posted:You can just put 'A thanks to megazver for the cover ideas' or something similar on the credits/thanks page, I suppose! Done! Thanks again. And… it’s published! The Night People I’m not going to spend money on advertising until I get the third book done, so this will probably just sit on Amazon. I did make the first book free starting tomorrow until Friday, which is my only promotion right now. Also, forgot to put my little ‘please review’ blurb at the end, so I’ll need to upload again.
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May 1, 2022 13:46
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Okay, so launch week is over. In the short term, emailer lists like ENT, Fussy Librarian, et al, were not worth it. However! That doesn't really account for Book 2 sales, or KU borrows, or any knock-on effect the extra advertising may have on my other series. It's all very fuzzy and hard to decipher without a few months of data, but in this last week, I definitely did not recoup costs associated with using those emailers. And, as with all book marketing, the ROI will only get better as there are more books in the series. The book I advertised is part of a 2-book series. I may try using emailers on my 5-book mystery series just because I haven't advertised it in years, which'll give me a more precise baseline.
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May 3, 2022 16:30
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I saw a new thing in KDP today as I was going through to setup another title. If anyone is planning on hitting publish soon and you get decent reviews, KDP is running a competition for its UK storefront: https://www.amazon.co.uk/b?node=12061299031 quote:The Kindle Storyteller Award is a £20,000 literary prize recognising outstanding writing. It is open to writers publishing in English in any genre, who publish their work through Kindle Direct Publishing. Readers play a significant role in selecting the winner, helped by a panel of judges including various book industry experts. You need to be in KDP Select for your ebook and have a KDP paperback and put "StorytellerUK2022" in your keywords. According to the terms and conditions, the shortlist will be compiled based on reviews. Has anyone done any of these things before?
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May 6, 2022 03:28
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Not eligible as I'm not in the UK, but I've seen it before and if you're already in Select it strikes me as a nothing-to-lose type thing.
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May 7, 2022 09:11
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Has anyone used Fussy Librarian to promote a free or cheap book? If so, how did that work out for you?
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May 12, 2022 03:28
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They're one of the few non-Bookbub mailers I regularly still use (alongside Robin Reads and Free/BargainBooksy) but I've noticed all three giving increasingly lower returns, to the point where they're only barely giving ROI. Having said that I'm promoting the same old backlist, so YMMV.
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May 13, 2022 08:56
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freebooter posted:They're one of the few non-Bookbub mailers I regularly still use (alongside Robin Reads and Free/BargainBooksy) but I've noticed all three giving increasingly lower returns, to the point where they're only barely giving ROI. Having said that I'm promoting the same old backlist, so YMMV. Thank you! I was just curious because their prices for some of the genres I’d be using are much better than BookBub’s.
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May 13, 2022 13:39
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Bookbub isn't what it used to be but it's definitely still the king, hence why it's so expensive (and competitive). I get the impression that all the free/discount mailing lists in general have started to lose a bit of their power compared to four or five years ago, though I'm not entirely sure what they've lost it to. The only answer I can think of is Amazon/FB ads, but when I've dabbled with them I've personally never found them to be very cost effective.
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May 14, 2022 03:54
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freebooter posted:Bookbub isn't what it used to be but it's definitely still the king, hence why it's so expensive (and competitive). I’ve heard a lot of people express the same thing. Maybe the market is oversaturated? It will be a couple years at least before I have enough books to make it worth the cost for me. Who knows what the state of things will be then. Although, I should probably start trying to get a deal now because it could take ten years to get one. To those who gave me advice and help on my cover, thank you so much! Paperback looks pretty sweet:  Megazver, you got a special dedication. Thanks so much for your help—I did my best to replicate your cool design. I think I got it mostly right. 
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May 19, 2022 00:12
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oh that cover works so well on the paperback!
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May 19, 2022 09:43
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divabot posted:oh that cover works so well on the paperback! Yeah, I really like it. It looks a little washed out because of the matte finish, but I don’t mind much.
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May 20, 2022 00:12
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newts posted:I’ve heard a lot of people express the same thing. Maybe the market is oversaturated? It will be a couple years at least before I have enough books to make it worth the cost for me. Who knows what the state of things will be then. Although, I should probably start trying to get a deal now because it could take ten years to get one. Oh man, that looks sweet! And, uh, I am feeling a little tingly inside actually seeing my nickname in a printed book, haha.
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May 20, 2022 12:53
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Wow, that really is a handsome cover. That would really stick out on a store shelf.
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May 30, 2022 05:56
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Coquito Ergo Sum posted:Wow, that really is a handsome cover. That would really stick out on a store shelf. Thanks! Really, the people who helped me in this thread, especially Megazver, should take all the credit. I’m pretty happy with it, except the usual: I can see all sorts of little decisions I’d do differently with the art now that it’s on my shelf.
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May 31, 2022 01:55
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Annnnd my epic fantasy novel is published! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B2SGJG8H It took 12 iterations to get to a half decent blurb: quote:In the Dominion of Aleznuaweite, anyone can rise to the greatest heights—if they are willing to pay the price. Now to start book 2.
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Jun 2, 2022 05:58
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Leng posted:Annnnd my epic fantasy novel is published! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B2SGJG8H Congrats! And you already have a Look Inside! Took Amazon like two weeks to get a Look Inside for my latest.
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Jun 2, 2022 15:40
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Congrats! picked up a copy and will drop a review when I get to it, current goon book queue is 5 but I've actually had time to read the past week or two so have started to cut that shorter
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Jun 2, 2022 17:01
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Leng posted:Annnnd my epic fantasy novel is published! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B2SGJG8H Neat. Where did you get a cover made?
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Jun 3, 2022 16:59
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Tars Tarkas posted:Congrats! picked up a copy and will drop a review when I get to it, current goon book queue is 5 but I've actually had time to read the past week or two so have started to cut that shorter Thanks for giving it a go! Vakal posted:Neat. Where did you get a cover made? Damonza. I posted a review of the process further upthread: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?noseen=0&threadid=3639693&pagenumber=173&perpage=40#post523131752 My next YouTube video will probably be a more detailed review. I had planned to do it earlier but between trying to get the book out and a virus my daughter contracted that's subsequently knocked out everyone in the family (not COVID, thank goodness), I haven't been able to film it yet. EDIT: YouTube review is up here now - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRdOt8dm_7M Leng fucked around with this message at 01:01 on Jun 22, 2022 |
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Jun 3, 2022 23:23
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Leng posted:Damonza. I posted a review of the process further upthread: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?noseen=0&threadid=3639693&pagenumber=173&perpage=40#post523131752 I didn't even know that pre-made covers were a thing. Cool.
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Jun 4, 2022 15:46
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So I this is pretty USA specific but I am between getting 10 ISBNs for 275$...or 100 for $595. I am pretty certain that I will need more than ten but this has stopped me publishing my novella. Balls. Canadians have it so good. I guess I should stick with the ten though.
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Jun 4, 2022 23:56
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First person blurb for a first person novel? Yay or nay? I’ve only seen this done a few times. Most of the first person books I’ve read have a blurb written in 3rd person. It’s never really bothered me, but I wonder if the 1st person blurb has an advantage because it lets readers know what they’re in for.
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Jun 11, 2022 19:26
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newts posted:First person blurb for a first person novel? Yay or nay? Is it an autobiography? If not, I would stick to what everyone else does. Maybe if you have like, a hundred books and wanted to mix something up for a test/just for fun… but if it is a flagship work I wouldn’t want to tank it by being too clever. Blurbs are soooo important that going nonstandard might be a mistake.
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Jun 11, 2022 19:42
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The Fuzzy Hulk posted:Is it an autobiography? If not, I would stick to what everyone else does. Maybe if you have like, a hundred books and wanted to mix something up for a test/just for fun… but if it is a flagship work I wouldn’t want to tank it by being too clever. Blurbs are soooo important that going nonstandard might be a mistake. Okay, good call. I’ll stick to traditional.
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Jun 12, 2022 14:29
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I’ve seen three different styles for 1st person book blurbs so far. 1. Fully third person 2. First person intro, followed by a third person blurb (see The Cruel Prince) 3. Fully first person (see Zodiac Academy) My examples are all YA since that’s my current project, and for YA I’m currently leaning toward going for 2 or 3.
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Jun 12, 2022 20:25
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OK thread, I need some suggestions on what to do marketing-wise! I did not get any smarter with my debut epic fantasy novel. I just followed David Gaughran's advice in Let's Get Digital and hit "Publish" as soon as it was done. In hindsight, I think it would have been smarter to delay official publication by say, two weeks, and try to get some ARCs via Book Siren, then try doing a promo stack with Book Barbarian and applying for a BookBub New Release For Less spot. I also should have started posting on r/fantasy a lot earlier. A lot of other epic fantasy authors have had success doing that. I've been trying to write at least 1-2 comments on discussion threads there daily right now. Anyway, I got very lucky and my book was selected to be the September book of the month for the r/fantasy Resident Authors Book Club. So I have 2 months to try and get something together to capitalize off this. Here's what I'm thinking so far: 1. Re-enroll in KU (current period expires on 28 Aug) for September. 2. Run the full KU free promo for the first 5 days of September, so as many people can pick it up as possible 3. Once the KU free period expires, price it low for $2.99 or $1.99 or something for the month of September in case anybody missed the free days. 4. Run a print giveaway. I'm thinking I'd offer 3 paperbacks as a general giveaway to r/fantasy, which usually results in an uptick in downloads/sales judging by other giveaways, and then 1 signed limited edition hardcover for anybody who participates in the September Bookclub readalong. The format of the readalongs is that there are two posts made: a midway discussion and a final discussion. I would probably pick the winner from the final discussion, since those would be the people who finished the book. 5. I have also been posting annotations of each chapter on my website, a la Brandon Sanderson. I'm thinking I should try and finish posting all the annotations before the readalong starts, to try and get some reader engagement that way. The limited edition hardcover is something I kind of want to do just as a treat for myself anyway, as I've got a local printer who can do some very nice stuff. Is this a sound marketing plan? The main thing I want out of this is to encourage as many people to read the book as possible. I don't even care so much about reviews ending up on Amazon or Goodreads, I think I'd be happy with a really nice discussion on r/fantasy that I can mine for choice quotes in the editorial section and social proof...and then hopefully when Book 2 is done, I can do a cover reveal and have people get excited about it because they remember it from the book club read. (Also because my book got picked, I won't be able to submit book 2 for this book club again, because it aims to feature authors whose work hasn't already been featured before.)
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Jun 22, 2022 01:36
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The topic du jour on author Twitter (I know, I know) is Amazon's lovely policy on ebook returns: you can return a Kindle book within 7 days of purchase regardless of how much you've read. Basically a ton of readers are using Amazon like a library now--reading an entire book and then returning it, which yanks royalties out of authors' pockets, and in some cases can end up in authors owing money to Amazon. I've seen authors talking about how their revenues have been cut in half or more by book returns. It seems like self published authors are especially vulnerable to this, and I was wondering how y'all are handling the situation. Are you affected by it? It's my hope that Amazon will change this policy (I know publishers are pissed too), but they've never given a poo poo about writers and I doubt this is an urgent matter for them. Apologies if this has been discussed, I searched the last several pages of the thread and didn't see anything on it.
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Jun 22, 2022 15:18
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Blue Scream posted:
It hasn't been. It happened kinda recently (as in...this year I think) due to a viral TikTok where the proponents were all about screwing Amazon over. Except they didn't think to check how ebook sales actually works on Amazon. Hasn't happened to me yet but I don't sell very many ebooks. (Which hopefully will change in which case I'll start worrying then...) Edit: I should add, I doubt Amazon will change anything, even if you get industry wide pressure. You just need to look at how very little they changed things after the Audible gate uproar, which had ALLi running an awareness campaign.
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Jun 23, 2022 00:28
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