Category Archives: Writing Market

March 9, 2014 · 10:21 pm

Why Indie Book Quality is Important

I read this today and totally agree. It’s sort of a big deal.

2 Comments

Filed under Grammar/Punctuation, Indie Publishing, Writing Market

Tagged as Editing, indie quality, therin knite

March 9, 2014 · 8:28 pm

A Self-Pubbing Future

This guy’s really clued-in to the indie market.

A Self-Pubbing Future.

On a lark, I made “Kick” free today, with zero promotion. My only other free promos were both promoted: I notified various websites about it, and they posted it on their front page or emailed subscribers about it. A lot of work, hitting-up about 30 different places, each with their own ways to submit to them, each with their own guidelines, etc. Some were paid spots with no way of telling how well that money worked for me (typically, $5-$20).

The first promo I did, shortly after release and zero reviews, got me about 700 downloads.

The second promo, 3 months later with about 15 reviews, got me at/around 3000 (about 2800 on the first day, and a severe drop-off after that).

So I’m curious what happens today.

8 Comments

Filed under Writing Market

Tagged as free promotion, freebies, kdp select

March 4, 2014 · 2:14 pm

Monthly reading subscription for eBooks? Sounds interesting…

http://www.pthylton.com/streaming-books/

Fogland Episode #2 — The Harbinger of Gloom Street

Fogland is a fascinating literary project by Mark Capell, author of Cafe Insomniac. Lindy Moone was the one who tipped me off about Mark’s book, last Fall, and today she has a Fogland story over on his site:

The Harbinger of Gloom Street

So what, exactly, is Fogland? In Mark’s words:

FOGLAND is going to be a series of weekly podcasts. Each episode features a short story from a different writer.

But there’s a link.

Every story is set in the world of FOGLAND. This is a mythical town where, owing to its geographical location, fog descends on over two hundred days of the year.

Writers can either expand on characters and story lines in previous episodes of Fogland or create new ones in their stories. And it can be written in any style. The title must include a Fogland street name (which the writer devises).

When each episode has been written, I record it and distribute it on the weekly Fogland podcast.

At the end of the podcast, listeners are encouraged to explore other works by the featured author.

At the same time, the author can publish the text version of their story in online stores.

The author can charge for that book or go the perma-free route. It’s up to them. They can also embed the podcast on their own website and use it for promotion, or elsewhere.

Mark Capell is calling on all authors who are interested to write stories for upcoming Fogland episodes, and I must admit it has piqued my interest. Between writing a sequel to “Kick” and cage fighting for guns, gold and diamonds, I may not have time.

We’ll see 🙂

Indie reading/support project

If you look over on the left side of my humble blog, you’ll see a number of books written by great indie authors. I don’t read nearly enough indie authors, despite wanting to “in theory.” My reasons:

I also haven’t read any James Patterson novels, but I hope to one day, time willing. Right now, it’s much easier to go with a sure win. For example, anything by Robert B. Parker.
There are too many indie authors to wade through in search of something I can really sink my teeth into, and again it comes down to time.
When I’m not writing or watching TV or going-out with the wife or working, I’m probably sleeping.

But I love indie authors. I mean, I am one. And I want to support them, learn from them, and be entertained by them. So I’m making it my mission to read more indies. And when I find one that I love, I’ll post the book over on the left side in the order in which I find it.

Stipulations:

I won’t tell anyone what I’m reading unless I end up liking it…and, therefore, if I don’t like something, nobody will ever know.
I won’t post anyone’s book that I regularly have regular, previous contact with through facebook/email. I’m trying to avoid the natural pressure to “help my friends”. For the two already there, I read them before we became friends.
I won’t post any books by mega-indie authors like Hugh Howey and Russel Blake. Because they don’t need my help.
I won’t take any free books from people, nor respond to lobbying efforts. I will probably build my reading list from the billions of indie authors over on kboards.com. If anyone replies to this post with books that they want me to read, more power to you, but I can’t respond.
If I like a book, I may put a review here, but I won’t on Goodreads or Amazon. It’s complicated…

So that’s it.

4 Comments

Filed under Favorite Books, Writing Market

Tagged as book reviews, indie books, self-published, undiscovered authors

January 30, 2014 · 2:09 pm

An SEO-aware short story

The other day in Washington DC, hanging out with my Democrat and Republican friends on Earth Day over at Starbucks, while talking about automobile insurance companies like Geico, Allstate, Progressive and State Farm, a man walked in wearing Nikes, Calvin Klein, and an Emporio Armani watch.

He looked at the watch.

“Wow, it’s almost time to put on the Oprah Winfrey Show,” he shouted for all to hear.

One of the people listening was hard of hearing, so she put in her hearing aid. The hearing aid she put in was not a Phonak, Unitron, ReSound, Simens, Sonic Innovations, Starkey, or an Oticon hearing aid. It was a Widex hearing aid. Which, as everyone knows, is a great hearing aid — unlike Phonak, Unitron, ReSound, Simens, Sonic Innovations, and Starkey, which are inferior to Widex.

Suddenly, someone turned on the Oprah Winfrey Show, which people liked more than Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, and Justified.

And then the aliens attacked (using missile systems far superior to those produced by Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman, and Raytheon).

Why? They hated the Oprah Winfrey Show.

“Damn you aliens!” shouted Tom Cruise, who was hanging out with Matt Damon, Bruce Willis and George Takei.

Then the aliens changed their minds and went home (to a galaxy far, far away).

— The End —

6 Comments

Filed under Funny, Writing Market

Tagged as allstate, armani, breaking bad, Bruce Willis, calvin klein, democrats, earth day, geico, George Takei, justified, Matt Damon, Oprah Winfrey, Oticon, Phonak, progressive, republicans, ReSound, sex, Simens, Sonic Innovations, star wars, starbucks, Starkey, Unitron, widex

January 9, 2014 · 10:37 pm

Wherever ebooks are sold…

* Update * – I’m no longer selling in other stores, just Amazon for now.

A bit of news: I’ve published “Kick” on iBookstore, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and Google Play. Still isn’t searchable on any of them, other than Google Play, but I’m assured by the folks at Draft2Digital they’ll catch up. In time. Way in the future when we’re all flying in bubbles 🙂