Although I have sold a few books and some Kindle downloads I am not getting many comments on Amazon yet. I put this down to the fact that there are a lot of pages to slog through and possibly that people are being too kind to tell me what they really think.
I have gleaned one 5* review from someone who will remain anonymous and who pointed out the perils of too much boring detail. Ah well!
It is hard to start marketing something which seems to have gone off on its own and doesn't want to belong to me any more. I wrote it because I wanted to and now telling the world about it is difficult and a little embarrassing.
Perhaps when the summer is over and I am shut up in my shed in the rain I will be a bit more energetic about telling the world. Until then my excuse is that without reviews I can't start to shout loudly to the world in general.
Showing posts with label Amazon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amazon. Show all posts
Thursday, 11 September 2014
Monday, 11 August 2014
Whatever next?
Now that I actually have the book in paperback form the question arises, what next? I never wrote the thing to get it read, particularly, but now it is out there I feel I ought to do something to let people know there is yet another travel / history book about India for them to enjoy.
Publishing was hard enough, but marketing is yet another new game to play and one with which I am not exactly comfortable.
I recently had the experience of sitting in a room with several acquaintances who enthused over the fact that I had written a book. Some of them had been to South India and were genuinely interested, but others seemed to think that writing a lot of words was an achievement in itself. All very embarrassing!
The dreaded Amazon gives many tips and articles on marketing, all of which hinge around having reviews on the site. I think that is going to be a very slow process. It is not a short book and most of the people who have bought it so far (thank you friends!) as far as I can tell, may not necessarily have bought or read yet another travel / history book about India. They have bought it because they know me.
I feel as though I have stripped off in public. I really wouldn't mind severe or negative reviews, I don't think, as long as they were honest. No reviews at all is really scary. Letting it sink without trace is such a relaxing idea!
Publishing was hard enough, but marketing is yet another new game to play and one with which I am not exactly comfortable.
I recently had the experience of sitting in a room with several acquaintances who enthused over the fact that I had written a book. Some of them had been to South India and were genuinely interested, but others seemed to think that writing a lot of words was an achievement in itself. All very embarrassing!
The dreaded Amazon gives many tips and articles on marketing, all of which hinge around having reviews on the site. I think that is going to be a very slow process. It is not a short book and most of the people who have bought it so far (thank you friends!) as far as I can tell, may not necessarily have bought or read yet another travel / history book about India. They have bought it because they know me.
I feel as though I have stripped off in public. I really wouldn't mind severe or negative reviews, I don't think, as long as they were honest. No reviews at all is really scary. Letting it sink without trace is such a relaxing idea!
Tuesday, 22 July 2014
At last the paperback is going to appear.
I've finally pressed the button on the paperback of my book and it will be out at the end of the week! These last couple have weeks have been like one of those dreams where you keep trying to do something and then get sent back to the beginning to do it again.
My proof copies arrived in three days, printed and delivered from the US and it was really weird to have a solid copy in my hands. The cover has worked OK, much to my astonishment, and I thought that, after four proof reads, I was home and dry.
I found a mistake the first time I opened the book and all the page numbers on the first couple of chapters had gone squiffy- again. I was rapidly losing the will to live, when enter Richard. My friends from Stroud arrived in their caravan for a week of forts and military tunnels, and while not crawling around underground and when it was raining they volunteered to proof read for me. Richard used to edit very long technical documents and in no time the poor old proof copy was bristling with markers and covered in pencil. Just what was needed! He did a very thorough and accurate job and I can't say how grateful I am.
He didn't get all of the typos, inconsistencies and bad grammar, however, as I proof read it again, for the fifth time and found a couple more daft things. Then back to Amazon to fight their review process and go round in circles a couple more times before I finally pressed the button today!
This is it folks, warts and all and very scary.
It will appear in about three to five days and then the real work begins if I want anyone to buy it. That's a good question.
My proof copies arrived in three days, printed and delivered from the US and it was really weird to have a solid copy in my hands. The cover has worked OK, much to my astonishment, and I thought that, after four proof reads, I was home and dry.
I found a mistake the first time I opened the book and all the page numbers on the first couple of chapters had gone squiffy- again. I was rapidly losing the will to live, when enter Richard. My friends from Stroud arrived in their caravan for a week of forts and military tunnels, and while not crawling around underground and when it was raining they volunteered to proof read for me. Richard used to edit very long technical documents and in no time the poor old proof copy was bristling with markers and covered in pencil. Just what was needed! He did a very thorough and accurate job and I can't say how grateful I am.
He didn't get all of the typos, inconsistencies and bad grammar, however, as I proof read it again, for the fifth time and found a couple more daft things. Then back to Amazon to fight their review process and go round in circles a couple more times before I finally pressed the button today!
This is it folks, warts and all and very scary.
It will appear in about three to five days and then the real work begins if I want anyone to buy it. That's a good question.
Wednesday, 9 July 2014
Ripped off already!
The Kindle version of the book has been up for just four weeks now and already it is appearing on a website as a free download. No, I am not going to tell you where!
I didn't go into publishing it with the idea of making money, but it would be all the same if I needed to recoup my costs.Having spent a career fighting other people's attempts at copyright infringement (well, OK, not too aggressively at times, but always with an eye to not doing it where possible) I find this galling.
How dare people take ownership of what I spent four years producing?
I have demanded that they take it down, which they say will take 72 hours if they decide to do it. Amazon say it is my responsibility to get it removed as I have an agreement with them which says I must not sell the e-book elsewhere. They are not bothered that their links are being hijacked by a resource which then gives their books away- strange, as it is essentially stealing from them as well.
I am not sure I have the energy for this crusade, but it is pretty unfair on those who are trying to write for a living, so I suppose I'd better join.
I didn't go into publishing it with the idea of making money, but it would be all the same if I needed to recoup my costs.Having spent a career fighting other people's attempts at copyright infringement (well, OK, not too aggressively at times, but always with an eye to not doing it where possible) I find this galling.
How dare people take ownership of what I spent four years producing?
I have demanded that they take it down, which they say will take 72 hours if they decide to do it. Amazon say it is my responsibility to get it removed as I have an agreement with them which says I must not sell the e-book elsewhere. They are not bothered that their links are being hijacked by a resource which then gives their books away- strange, as it is essentially stealing from them as well.
I am not sure I have the energy for this crusade, but it is pretty unfair on those who are trying to write for a living, so I suppose I'd better join.
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