Last week, I had a 5-day free download period on my horror-comedy novella Dead Heat in an attempt to boost rankings and get a few more reviews on Good Reads and Amazon in a hope of more sales. I guess you can say it was fairly successful – over 100 copies were “bought” during the free trial period and some 15 Kindle Online Lending Library accounts accessed it (not sure whether I get royalties on the KOLL, the Amazon page is not clear on that).
I also dropped the permanent price on the digital download by 50p/80c. That means it is now £2.75 / $4.29(US). I know that it has become difficult to shift copies in a digital marketplace that is saturated, even with a few healthy 5-star reviews, but I think this pricing is a lot more realistic for a 30,000 word novella.
Thirdly, you can now buy the book in formats other than Amazon Kindle at Smashwords (link here). I know the lack of sales on Amazon (10 sold, about as many through KOLL) is because it is a competitive modern marketplace, but hamstringing myself by limiting the release to one platform is not a good idea and I have seen little actual benefit to enrolling in Kindle Select so far. You will soon be able to buy it for Apple, Kobo and Nook too. News on Smashwords will follow in due course.
If you purchased Dead Heat on Kindle, or I sent you a review copy, it would be most appreciated if you could copy your reviews from Good Reads and Amazon onto the Smashwords page (if you have an accountt)
Finally, for those who do not have a Kindle, you will soon be able to buy print copies of Dead Heat through Amazon Createspace. Access the Kindle links below, they should also show the available print copies when the page is set up – I have ordered the proof copies which are expected to arrive in early August. Once they are approved, you will be able to purchase full print copies. Pricing is slightly higher for hard copies due to the cost of production and the lower rate of royalties.
Buy it on Kindle Now: amazon.co.uk | amazon.com | amazon.ca
Good luck!
I’ve seen a few sales on iBooks since I made things available there but getting word out is hard. Even free giveaways don’t have the impact of a few years ago…
Cheers Chris
I think there are just too many options now that everybody is trying to do it. I’m in a reading group on Facebook and it’s encouraging to see that most people there realise the importance of reviewing indy published works. Hopefully, some of the 100+ people who downloaded it on Amazon will feel the same way.
It is no wonder there is a thriving business in paid reviews these days, what is surprising is that Amazon seems to support paid reviews with their current policies.
Yup. They also discourage anybody who knows each other from reviewing work too (which is pretty ridiculous – even an online community of people who talk every day but have never met technically “know” each other).
Visiting my web page is apparently enough to mean you “know” me… Ridiculous… By that logic we’re Geoff Bezos buddies…
Here’s a link to the petition and further information.
https://www.change.org/p/amazon-com-amazon-change-the-you-know-this-author-policy?recruiter=52442275&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=autopublish&utm_term=des-lg-share_petition-reason_msg&fb_ref=Default