Tag Archives: amazon

eBook, Writer Reference

The Case of the Complaining Author

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

There are many reasons that authors fail.  The most glaringly obvious one is that they don’t treat their writing as a business.

Scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed, I came across a post that seemed to indicate that an eBook listed on Amazon was showing the wrong content when a potential buyer clicked on the “look inside” feature.  The poster was “damning” the Look Inside feature.

So I asked a simple question: Did the original poster call and ask why the wrong content was showing?

The response showed that they had not done so.

Here’s the thing: YOU are the author. YOU are your business. YOUR BOOK is your product.  Take some damned responsibility for it! Act like a professional!

Further examination showed that the eBook in question – which I looked up, accessed the “look inside” feature and downloaded the sample for – had been first published on December 19, 2013.  By using the post date of the FB complaint, the date the interior file was updated can be extrapolated to March 27, 2015.

The eBook has no reviews.

Continue reading →

Dead Tree Books, eBook, Self Publishing

Kindle Scout has officially rolled out!

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Kindle Scout is a “reader powered” publishing program offered by Amazon where authors can submit their new never-been-published books and be considered for a publishing contract by Kindle Press.

Books that make the cut will be published by Kindle Press.  They’ll receive a publishing contract with 5-year (renewable) terms, a $1,500 advance, 50% eBook royalty rate, and Amazon’s “easy rights reversion” so you can get your book rights back when you’re done.

What makes this program unattractive is the 20% lower royalty rate than if you’d published through Kindle Direct Publishing yourself.  This rate is still 35% higher than if you’d published through a traditional publisher, so it’s kind of a push in my book.

What makes this program something you should look at is the advance (it’s not much, but it’s more than you’d get if you published yourself) and the all important “featured Amazon marketing.”  If you’re an author, you know that writing the book isn’t the hard part; it’s getting people to know you’ve written a book.  Amazon – the 800 lb. gorilla in the room when it comes to selling books and eBooks – sells more books than everyone else combined.  If they’re going to feature your book, then – by all means – you should welcome that!

Continue reading →

Dead Tree Books, eBook, Success Stories, Writer Reference

Burying the Hachette

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Keith Cronin posted a great article about the ongoing Amazon/Hachette nonsense over at Writer Unboxed.  Personally, I firmly feel that Hachette is doing all of their authors a HUGE disservice by continuing this idiotic business war, and I feel that it’s making them look bad.  My favorite observation from this article:

“This is something that many people forget, or simply haven’t realized: Amazon is not a bookstore. It’s not Barnes & Noble on steroids. It’s much more like Costco, or Target, or Walmart: a powerful retailer meeting a wide span of consumer needs at discounted prices.”

Continue reading →

eBook

75% of authors misuse free ebook promotion

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

I just read a post that cites an imaginary statistic, and that is so absolutely flawed in it’s premise that I felt the need to put pixel to screen in the hopes of correcting this gross error.  From the post:

“…Now this is a very important mistake and 75% of the authors do that. They just make their book free to get high rankings on self publishing platforms. I have read about lot of authors who say that making their book free has done wonders for them and boosted their book sale. This high ranking and sale will be short term if you don’t know how to do it properly. You must always get other benefits and those benefits should be of long term if you are going for free…” – Jay D, Book Promotion & Marketing Guru

Continue reading →

Dead Tree Books, eBook

2014 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest entry period now open

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

The 2014 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest (ABNA) entry period has opened. The ABNA contest is open to unpublished and self-published English-language novels. Entries will be accepted through March 2, 2014, or until 10,000 eligible entries are received, and can now be submitted through CreateSpace. To enter today, log in and select ABNA Breakthrough Novel Award from the left side bar.

Amazon Publishing is pleased to announce that one Grand Prize winner will receive a publishing contract with an advance of $50,000. In addition, four First Prize winners will each receive a publishing contract from Amazon Publishing with an advance of $15,000.

Authors can submit their work in one of the following categories: general fiction, mystery/thriller, romance, science fiction/fantasy/horror, and young adult fiction. For complete eligibility details, review the Official Contest Rules. Visit the prizes page for the full list of prizes and details.

Log in to enter today.