Mimi Barbour's Blog: Believe!, page 47

What about the rotten, unprofessional e-pubs that take advantage??

We all know stories about these kinds of publishers, don’t we? I certainly found out more about them after writing theses posts.Personally, I've noticed some pretty shoddy work put out by small pubs, badly edited, poor covers and little or no support for the authors in the way of promotion. When a person sees that behavior up front, it makes you wonder what goes on behind the scenes. Like what kind of royalty calculations are being used? Whether or not the author is getting their proper percentage of monies earned by their books?  
A lady wrote to me recently with a horrific story about her experiences. Along with other authors, she hadn’t received any monies since September from her small publisher. Her twenty-one books are being held ransom and the owners refuse to discuss this state of affairs with her because they won’t admit to there being a problem.
All she wants is the rights back for her work. According to her contract, they must acquiesce. But they won’t!
Think about it!
Twenty-one freakin' books they are controlling without her consent. Letters and demands from lawyers have done nothing to save the situation. Pleading and threats haven’t worked. Even taking on a media blitz to expose their treachery and rotten business practices hasn’t moved them to do the right thing. Can she afford to sue? Can anyone? Can she afford not to?
I feel sad for her and I’d hate to think anyone reading this post would ever let themselves get into a similar fix. Remember when I said “Do your Homework”? This is the perfect example of why it’s so important.
 
If anyone else has stories they’d like to share with us about their experiences, please e-mail me at mimibarbour@ hotmail.com and I’ll be glad to have you as a guest.
     
 
 

Azure Boone shares her experiences with an E-publisher!

   I ‘d like to give a very warm welcome for Azure Boone today who’s agree to share her personal journey from being contracted with an e-publisher to going Indie.
Hi, Mimi, thank you so much for having me.
#1 - How many books have you written, Azure?
I've written eleven so far, and I'm working on the twelfth right now with my awesome writing partner and best friend, Kenra Daniels.

#2 - What happened to you with your publishing company?
Well, like every aspiring author, I wanted to get published. I decided that my book was just pushing too many genres to get accepted and I decided to self- publish. I was even in the process of creating my own cover and asking for opinions on the cover when an editor approached me and asked me for a submission. Okay at this point, I'm thinking, is this God or Satan. LOL. How many times do we wonder if it's a blessing or a curse? Seemed so good! And you know if I had to look back now, I'd say I should have stuck to my guns when I'd prayed about what exactly to do for quite some time and concluded self-publishing was the answer. Well, I decided that maybe this was a good thing. And honestly, it was in a learning aspect. I would not know what I know now if I hadn't made that choice. Now, let me be fair and say there are a lot of positives to having your book published at a real life e-publisher, mine was Loose ID. Out of all the companies, I'm thinking I really lucked out with them. I got a super great editor, whom I still love and have learned a ton from, I got great edits as far as grammar goes and delivery at a sentence level, lol, but then there were the following things that today, have put me in the position I am in. A self-published author.
1. These companies have rules and policies that serve them first. Yes they try and serve the author as far as they can I think, but if there's one man left standing, it's not set up to be you, the author. Which makes complete sense as a business. Now, as a self- publisher, I get to make my own rules and look out for me one hundred percent of the time. I sort of need to do business that way.
2. Royalties were the best around at the time, I think 35 percent. But then they priced your book at $6.99. A new author with no previous experience or social media presence. That meant a pathetic amount of sales. Who wants to take a chance with a new author, except for those who buy through the publisher’s website. And apparently the competition is stiff because I might have gotten maybe 5 sales from the site in all of 10 months. Weeeeeeeee. NOT. Plus they price their books higher at their site so it makes sense nobody buys from there.
3. Publicity. You got listed at their website, you get one mention of your release on Facebook along with a few other authors who were releasing at the same time as you. And you get listed at a couple of e-book stores. You have to pay for your publicity and work behind the curtains yourself - for reviews, blog tours, and whatever other publicity you want. It's that way usually with all companies except the high paying traditional ones.
4. Edits. I have to say they were excellent in the editorial department. They put out quality material, thank goodness for that. I've seen some crappy stuff coming out of a lot of these e-pubs. And their cover design, they had amazing artists, no problems there.
You might be wondering, why did I decide to self- publish then if they are that great? Well, I'll tell you why.
1. I have to be in control of my books. I decided I don't want to compromise there. They asked me to change the entire plot to accommodate more sex in my story at a more erotica genre trope timely fashion. Like in the FIRST chapter. And hell, that was their business, so, they weren't asking for anything out of the ordinary. I could have said no and taken my story elsewhere, but I didn't. And it just so happened that if my character had sex, he damned the women to hell that he slept with. Well, you talk about MAJOR overhauling of a story and I did it. However, I think I like the story (except for the sex too soon part) better than before.
2. I want to be in control of my pricing. I have that with self- publishing. I can set my books at competitive prices and actually give books away. Something I feel is extremely important for new authors. Why? Because I asked myself this - Do I want to get quickly known or quickly rich? Well, if I'm a good writer, I must first become known before I can become rich. And for me, this was more about time. Yes, I may have become known with Loose ID but at fifty times the "time" it took for me to get known with self- publishing. Why? Because with Amazon's KDP select, I have the power to give away books. After giving away say, 1,000 books, I will turn around and sell 200 in a month. While I sell 10 at the publishing company, and that book has better editing!
Yes, I price my books at .99 cents, or $1.99, (which you only get 35% royalty) but these are novellas anyway. I price longer works at $2.99 and then Amazon gives you a 70% royalty! So you're looking at $2.00 per sale of each book. Not bad at all. Now I can sell less books for a fraction the publishing company charges and still make decent money.
I liked the results of self-publishing a lot more than the e-publisher on every turn. I kept writing and I began to slowly build a monthly income AND a larger audience. Every book I wrote, I did the exact same thing with Amazon's KDP. I began at $25 dollars a month and am now at about $300 dollars a month. I began self-publishing in September of last year, so in a matter of nine months, I have gone from making $25 a month to $300. It will likely be more this month because I just added the third book to my Broken series. It’s not a ton of money, I know. But it's a living that I'm carving out for myself and I absolutely love doing it as my own boss. No deadlines except those that I make. And I do make them, lol. I've published an average of one book per month and don't plan on stopping until I am raking in more money. It's work, yes, but it's worth it. I'm getting paid to do my passion, I can't complain.
Now the more you become known the more books you will sell, the more money you will make, it really is a snowball effect and I'm simply creating that effect the way I want it created. So, to sum it up, yes you can e-pub and do great with it, a lot of people do. I have nothing against e-publishers, I just think with self-publishing you can also do as good or even better.
So what about the COST of e-publishing? Nothing to you.
What about the cost of self-publishing?
You're looking at around $250 (a good price) for a solid edit.
Cover art: Around $50-$100 (good price)
The rest of the cost you're going to pay for regardless of which way you go, advertising etc.
HOWEVER, I'd like to tell you what I spend on self-publishing. I spend $4.00. Yes, that's four dollars. And that is for the image I purchase for making my own cover. If you knew how easy it was to use Power Point to create covers you'd vomit. I'm not kidding and I think I may video myself doing one and put it up on YouTube. But then I write contemporary erotica, so, it's easy to find the images I want. 123rf.comis where I shop for all my images. They're extremely cheap. What about editing? Well, I paid close attention to what my editor did when we edited. I used all that I learned with her, continued learning how to write, and got better as I went. I rarely hear people say "this person needed an editor, her work was shite" Out of 32 reviews I might get one “poorly-edited” remark while the majority will say it was very well written. That means there are grammar gurus out there that will spot weaknesses but the majority of the audience who are well read usually, do not. You have the same issues with traditional publishing and many of the e-publishers - none of them are perfect… e-publishers especially.
My books: (Did all the covers)
http://www.amazon.com/Broken-Desires-Series-ebook/dp/B00B5GH7HM/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1Broken Desires Book 1
http://www.amazon.com/Broken-Lies-Series-ebook/dp/B00BL5VNRWBroken Lies Book 2
http://www.amazon.com/Broken-Souls-ebook/dp/B00CM1ZMYYBroken Souls Book 3
I did these covers too:
http://www.amazon.com/Kassern-Archangels-Creed-ebook/dp/B00AC6S4NMSummon Kassern (Book 1 Archangels Creed series)
http://www.amazon.com/Summon-Dorn-Archangels-Creed-ebook/dp/B00BYH107ASummon Dorn (Book 2 Archangels Creed series)
The angels on these covers were created by me using Daz3d. I LOVE them.
My Author Blog
Archangels Creed Website
Twitter Facebook Pinterest  

Azure Boone shares her experiences with an E-publisher!

I ‘d like to give a very warm welcome for Azure Boone today who’s agree to share her personal journey from being contracted with an e-publisher to going Indie.  

Hi, Mimi, thank you so much for having me.  










#1 - How many books have you written, Azure?
I've written eleven so far, and I'm working on the twelfth right now with my awesome writing partner and best friend, Kenra Daniels.

#2 - What happened to you with your publishing company?
Well, like every aspiring author, I wanted to get published. I decided that my book was just pushing too many genres to get accepted and I decided to self- publish. I was even in the process of creating my own cover and asking for opinions on the cover when an editor approached me and asked me for a submission. Okay at this point, I'm thinking, is this God or Satan. LOL. How many times do we wonder if it's a blessing or a curse? Seemed so good! And you know if I had to look back now, I'd say I should have stuck to my guns when I'd prayed about what exactly to do for quite some time and concluded self-publishing was the answer. Well, I decided that maybe this was a good thing. And honestly, it was in a learning aspect. I would not know what I know now if I hadn't made that choice. Now, let me be fair and say there are a lot of positives to having your book published at a real life e-publisher, mine was Loose ID. Out of all the companies, I'm thinking I really lucked out with them. I got a super great editor, whom I still love and have learned a ton from, I got great edits as far as grammar goes and delivery at a sentence level, lol, but then there were the following things that today, have put me in the position I am in. A self-published author.
 
1. These companies have rules and policies that serve them first. Yes they try and serve the author as far as they can I think, but if there's one man left standing, it's not set up to be you, the author. Which makes complete sense as a business.  Now, as a self- publisher, I get to make my own rules and look out for me one hundred percent of the time. I sort of need to do business that way.
 
2. Royalties were the best around at the time, I think 35 percent. But then they priced your book at $6.99. A new author with no previous experience or social media presence. That meant a pathetic amount of sales. Who wants to take a chance with a new author, except for those who buy through the publisher’s website. And apparently the competition is stiff because I might have gotten maybe 5 sales from the site in all of 10 months. Weeeeeeeee. NOT. Plus they price their books higher at their site so it makes sense nobody buys from there.
 
3. Publicity. You got listed at their website, you get one mention of your release on Facebook along with a few other authors who were releasing at the same time as you. And you get listed at a couple of e-book stores. You have to pay for your publicity and work behind the curtains yourself - for reviews, blog tours, and whatever other publicity you want. It's that way usually with all companies except the high paying traditional ones.
 
4. Edits. I have to say they were excellent in the editorial department. They put out quality material, thank goodness for that. I've seen some crappy stuff coming out of a lot of these e-pubs. And their cover design, they had amazing artists, no problems there.
 
You might be wondering, why did I decide to self- publish then if they are that great? Well, I'll tell you why.
 
1. I have to be in control of my books. I decided I don't want to compromise there. They asked me to change the entire plot to accommodate more sex in my story at a more erotica genre trope timely fashion. Like in the FIRST chapter. And hell, that was their business, so, they weren't asking for anything out of the ordinary. I could have said no and taken my story elsewhere, but I didn't. And it just so happened that if my character had sex, he damned the women to hell that he slept with. Well, you talk about MAJOR overhauling of a story and I did it. However, I think I like the story (except for the sex too soon part) better than before.
2. I want to be in control of my pricing. I have that with self- publishing. I can set my books at competitive prices and actually give books away. Something I feel is extremely important for new authors. Why? Because I asked myself this - Do I want to get quickly known or quickly rich? Well, if I'm a good writer, I must first become known before I can become rich. And for me, this was more about time. Yes, I may have become known with Loose ID but at fifty times the "time" it took for me to get known with self- publishing. Why? Because with Amazon's KDP select, I have the power to give away books. After giving away say, 1,000 books, I will turn around and sell 200 in a month. While I sell 10 at the publishing company, and that book has better editing!
 
Yes, I price my books at .99 cents, or $1.99, (which you only get 35% royalty) but these are novellas anyway. I price longer works at $2.99 and then Amazon gives you a 70% royalty! So you're looking at $2.00 per sale of each book. Not bad at all. Now I can sell less books for a fraction the publishing company charges and still make decent money.
 
I liked the results of self-publishing a lot more than the e-publisher on every turn. I kept writing and I began to slowly build a monthly income AND a larger audience. Every book I wrote, I did the exact same thing with Amazon's KDP. I began at $25 dollars a month and am now at about $300 dollars a month. I began self-publishing in September of last year, so in a matter of nine months, I have gone from making $25 a month to $300. It will likely be more this month because I just added the third book to my Broken series. It’s not a ton of money, I know. But it's a living that I'm carving out for myself and I absolutely love doing it as my own boss. No deadlines except those that I make. And I do make them, lol. I've published an average of one book per month and don't plan on stopping until I am raking in more money. It's work, yes, but it's worth it. I'm getting paid to do my passion, I can't complain.
 
Now the more you become known the more books you will sell, the more money you will make, it really is a snowball effect and I'm simply creating that effect the way I want it created. So, to sum it up, yes you can e-pub and do great with it, a lot of people do. I have nothing against e-publishers, I just think with self-publishing you can also do as good or even better.
 
So what about the COST of e-publishing? Nothing to you. 

What about the cost of self-publishing?
You're looking at around $250 (a good price) for a solid edit.
Cover art: Around $50-$100 (good price)
 The rest of the cost you're going to pay for regardless of which way you go, advertising etc. 

HOWEVER, I'd like to tell you what I spend on self-publishing. I spend $4.00. Yes, that's four dollars. And that is for the image I purchase for making my own cover. If you knew how easy it was to use Power Point to create covers you'd vomit. I'm not kidding and I think I may video myself doing one and put it up on YouTube. But then I write contemporary erotica, so, it's easy to find the images I want. 123rf.comis where I shop for all my images. They're extremely cheap. What about editing? Well, I paid close attention to what my editor did when we edited. I used all that I learned with her, continued learning how to write, and got better as I went. I rarely hear people say "this person needed an editor, her work was shite" Out of 32 reviews I might get one “poorly-edited” remark while the majority will say it was very well written. That means there are grammar gurus out there that will spot weaknesses but the majority of the audience who are well read usually, do not. You have the same issues with traditional publishing and many of the e-publishers - none of them are perfect… e-publishers especially.
My books: (Did all the covers)
http://www.amazon.com/Broken-Desires-Series-ebook/dp/B00B5GH7HM/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1Broken Desires Book 1
http://www.amazon.com/Broken-Lies-Series-ebook/dp/B00BL5VNRWBroken Lies Book 2
http://www.amazon.com/Broken-Souls-ebook/dp/B00CM1ZMYYBroken Souls Book 3
I did these covers too:
http://www.amazon.com/Kassern-Archangels-Creed-ebook/dp/B00AC6S4NMSummon Kassern (Book 1 Archangels Creed series)
http://www.amazon.com/Summon-Dorn-Archangels-Creed-ebook/dp/B00BYH107ASummon Dorn (Book 2 Archangels Creed series)
 The angels on these covers were created by me using Daz3d. I LOVE them.

My Books:
Buy Broken Desires $1.99
Akira Tong For Christmas
Click To Buy $2.99
Click To Buy $1.99
Click To Buy
Click To Buy $2.99
Click To Buy $3.29
My Author Blog Archangels Creed Website Twitter Facebook Pinterest

 

Should some authors sign away their work? #amwriting #amazon

Yes! Keeping in mind that we’re discussing e-publishers, I believe that some authors should do so.
I say this because of various reasons:
1.     Authors who are poor and cannot afford the costs of self-publishing will have those basic expenses covered.
2.     Having the experience of working with professional editors is a huge plus for future work.
3.     Gathering contacts within the publisher’s group who can answer questions and give one needed support.
4.     A loop where you can start a social media campaign and learn how others like yourself are promoting their work.
5.     Those who are young, have a busy family life and have little time to spend on their writing career can get away with only releasing a few books a year.
Now having said this, I have to warn you.
“BE CAREFUL!!!”
“DO YOUR HOMEWORK!!”
Do not go along with just any e-publishing company because they offer you a contract. Check their websites and if they’re unprofessional, take a pass. If their covers aren’t great, take a hike. If most of their books are ranking low on the various book sites such as Barnes & Noble and Amazon, run the other way.
One great site for checking all the available publishers is called Preditors and Editors. http://pred-ed.com/peba.htm They’ve compiled fantastic lists for you to use and not only for publishers.    
Another site you can check is called “Show me the money” http://brendahiatt.com/show-me-the-money/Brenda Hiatt has done some homework for you and shows clearly which of the companies pay well and those that don’t. (I suggest submitting to those that do!) (DUH! )
From my own experience, this is what I believe happens. Many start-up e-publishers need a stable of authors and lots of product and are willing to take on most anyone just to get started. Chances are they’ll have a low budget and it’s possible their editors won’t be the best which means the editing could be shoddy. If they’re editors are good, how many will they have hired? Therefore turn-around time on getting your books released might be much longer than you expect.
Have they hired a Publicist to not only promote their publishing company, which is important for the readers to find them, but also your books? And how much coverage can each author expect when their book is first released? Does the company have a presence in the Social Media - on Facebook and Twitter? How many followers do they have in both places? How many tweets?
Don’t get me wrong – there are many e-pubs who work hard to help their authors succeed. Some not only provide great covers and good editing but also encouragement, chat rooms, workshops, writing forums and publicity to help their writers gain success.
And all YOUhave to do to ensure good royalty checks is - write one hell of a great book.
 
Next blog – What about the rotten, unprofessional e-pubs that take advantage??

Cover reveal - Together Again

to be released on May 5th

I’ve been promising you a cover release for the “Together Again” and here it is.
I wanted to have a beautiful girl’s face on this cover similar to what Wild Rose had chosen. I thought to have it mystical even whimsical but I was shot down. Stay in brand I was told by my promoter. Let the readers know that this book belongs to a series.
And I’ve loved the covers for The Vicarage Bench Series so far - floating roses amongst the sparkles. But this is a full-length story and I had figured that should make the difference.
Not so. To help the readers know by a glance that this is another Vicarage Bench Book I had to stay with the branded concept for the covers. Because the next three novels are all full Length and are the “Together” stories of the series, we changed the format slightly.
 Here it is...
 

Freedom from Contracts at Last! #amwriting #amazon #finally

Did you realize that if you are contracted to a publisher, this could tie up not only one book but any other novels you might write for that same series?
I know all about that since it happened to me. Thankfully, when I signed my contract with Wild Rose Press it stated that since I was writing a series, they would have first dibs at any new books that went with that specific series only. Anything else I wrote belonged to me alone.
Be careful! Some publishers don’t make it clear, and if you haven’t checked your contract, they could have certain rights over all your work. Then you’d have to change your name …and well... just be careful!
A year and a half ago when I decided to go Indie, I’ve written 8 more books and will soon have a total of 14 available. And they’re mine… all mine… well except for one.
Have you ever written a book so fast that you felt as if the words came to you magically? Like your fingers couldn’t keep up with the flow? It happened to me when I wrote Together for Christmas in two months. I couldn’t wait to see that book published because it was such a miraculous experience. Sadly, it took them well over eight months before it was released.
And that is my last book tied with the publisher. Finally, in November of this year I will get my rights returned. You know why I can’t wait?
#1 - I’ve never liked the cover. From the first time I saw it, it didn’t reflect my vision of the story. But… I had to be nicey-nice and say thank you while swallowing my disappointment. I have no doubt the cover artist did exactly as asked; it just didn’t work for me.
#2 - I have another Vicarage Bench story halfway finished and stopped writing it when I realized I couldn’t release the novel until I had back all my rights for every one of those books. Because as long as I was still under contract, I was legally forced to give them the first chance to publish it.
#3 - I can close that chapter once and for all. *** I will add here that for me at the time it was a very positive step. I was new, inexperienced and naively grateful to be noticed and to have my writing judged and accepted. Without that encouraging feedback, I might not have had the guts to go after self-publishing. So for that I will always be grateful. And… I’m also thankful for the many friends I made and connections that were formed in those years.
 

Next post - Should some authors sign away their work?***

Setting up Your Own Work Versus Having No Say at all!! #amwriting #amazon #finally

 Cover Reveal soon!! Together Again - to be released this week!!
Did you know that many of the e-publishers are changing their contracts from 2 years to 5 years?  Wild Rose Press made that announcement some time ago. I’ve even heard rumors that some of the big houses could be expecting the rights to the e-books for the lifetime of the book. Getthe “f”outtahere!!!
Personally, I can’t imagine giving away the rights to my work ever again (except for the paperbacks – but that’s a whole other blog!).
When it became clear to me that I could do much better as a self-published author, one of the important aspects was having product to sell. Books that I could set up properly, making sure the categories I chose would be the best for that story. (Can’t emphasize to you how important that is… really!)
Also, purchasing my own covers, ones I felt proud of and knew would brand the whole series rather than covering each book individually. 
And filling in the product descriptions in the best way to sell the work, giving the readers the information as to why he/she should buy the book.
I mean, think about it. When you see an advertisement about a certain product for sale if a quiet voice said “buy me”, would you listen?  What if a mind-blowing declaration screamed, “This book sizzles with Hot Romance & Powerful Suspense!” Would this not get your attention? Furthermore, when you glanced at the Book Description and saw words like “Hot, Sassy, and Intriguing” admit that it would surely catch your interest.
That’s called promoting the book. It’s not only necessary, it’s vital! When you have the power over the merchandise, there’s no end of the things you can do to help push the product.
How about free days? Many of you refuse to give your work away, thinking you’ll be losing money. Baloney! There are millions of readers in the world who want to find you, want to support you and read your work. It’s up to you to wave at them and say “Here I am!” How better than by giving them a small taste of your voice, a glimpse of what a genius you are, a reason for them to rush and buy everything else you’ve written.
Sure can’t do any of this if your work is controlled by anyone else.  Nor can you be involved with a wonderful group of Best-Selling Authors like those in the FREEPARTAYS  Or GIVE away FREE books!!! Such as...   


Men are scum, and no one can tell Sadie any different. It’s why she stays away from them. Until a crazy, hotshot soldier runs her down with his convertible. Now because she’s bruised and sore, she's stuck having to accept his help in her elite dog-walking business. Just her luck that some of the expensive pets go missing and Liam decides the puppy-mill rumour needs to be investigated. And once they’re forced to spend more time together, darned if a spark doesn’t start to ignite.  Without the angel forcing him to brake, Liam could have killed the gorgeous girl who ran in front of his car to save a little boy. He owed the rescuer big time and would pay his debt no matter that she acted cranky and became more difficult with every meeting. After all, how hard could it be to walk a bunch of mangy mutts?   ***

Getting back your Copywrite! #amazon #kindle #amwriting #finally!

COVER REVEAL - SOON!! ...for TOGETHER AGAIN                                                How do you feel about getting the rights back on a book that's been out of your reach?
I know how I feel—thankful, ecstatic and darn well excited. Add in just a little rejoicing that the day’s finally here and it would about cover it. Overwhelming relief comes to mind also when I think I’ll finally be able to set it up on Amazon the way I want.
It’s about control. Something I never thought about in those first few years of being in the business. A contract back then was the golden globe. An award that everyone I knew craved for. Guess it’s still the same for some people today. Traditionalists think a contract from a publisher will give them everything they yearn for.  
1.     Their name on a book cover, one they wouldn’t have to pay for. Except there’s no choices involved either.
2.     Their editing done free of charge. In one way, that is a bonus unless the editor forces you to make huge adjustments in revising your work, changing your voice and altering the whole concept of the story.
3.     Free promotion. Not so much! Unless you’re a best-seller, the publishers ignore you and the only commitment they give to your work is to put your book on some bookshelves for a limited time.
4.     A good price for their work. Except that they’re in competition with so many new self-published authors who are willing to set their prices at a reasonable rate, knowing that it’s only fair to give the readers a chance to discover them and their work.  
I’ve recently gotten the rights back for my book “Together Again” which is the 5th book in The Vicarage Bench Series. It’s one of my favorite books because it was my first full-length novel that was publishable.
My publisher, The Wild Rose Press, charged $5.25 for this book. I’m sorry, but I totally understand why the ranking on that book stayed so low over the years. I’m sure the only copies I sold were to the people who knew me personally and wanted to support me.  (Thank goodness for mothers, sisters, and best friends.) **Funny thing is, as soon as I started selling well on Amazon with my self-published work, the ranking on this book started to climb, benefiting …
You got it…!
 Next blog - Setting up your own work versus having no say at all.

Sales Info on Amazon Central

If you go to your Amazon Central page, you'll see above the button “Sales Info”.  If you’re like me, curious as hell, click on it and there's a window that says “All Books”.
Goodie! Here we go…! Now pick out your latest release and whaaa!!! As long as it’s a self-published book, you’ll get a message that basically reads – You’re out of luck!!! Or if you want the literal blurb – Nielsen Book Scan does not aggregates sales data for Kindle or ebooks blah blah blah...
So how does a person find their sales info? I know!! – I know!! What you do is look on the left where it says Sales Rank and there is a wealth of info on each one of your books
Nooooooo!!!!  Amazon's note:
***Looking for Historic Sales Rank? We’re doing an overhaul of our historic Sales Rank graphs, and we’ve temporarily removed this feature while we work on it. We will re-introduce the graphs in May 2013. We apologize for the inconvenience while we do this work. ****


How can they do this to me when I’m writing a blog about this wonderful tool? Sheesh! All I can do is try and explain from memory. Every time I go into a Freepartay, I have to fill in a form that asks me about the best sales ranking and the average ranking for the book I’m promoting. This is where I can find that information. You can bring up every one of your books on a graph, with a choice for a short period (weeks or months) or over the whole year. (I think??? Did I happen to mention I have a bad case of brain malfunction due to overuse?) Really, it’s great to be able to see how each book is doing for comparison say with other books in a series or just so you can sit and gloat.
This is also a place that shows you each book's current sales ranking (which you can also see on the Books page as well.
The button called "Rank" is for the author. Again, this is a great place for you to follow your own path as you progress. As we all know, this career we’ve chosen doesn’t kick in overnight. It takes time and another book and another book and…
So to be able to see where we sit in the Amazon kingdom at any given time is pretty darn cool. This is what Amazon says about the Rank  -  *Amazon Author Rank is based on the sales of all of your books on Amazon.com and is updated hourly.*
These are the categories Amazon has placed me as of 5:49pm PMT:
All Books #1,246
Kindle eBooks #765
Literature & Fiction #644
Mystery & Thrillers #477
Mystery #245
These placements have to do with where your books are in certain categories. I know that when my Christmas book Lovable Christmas Angel was ranking near the #300 mark, the book was placing from #1 - #10 in categories such as christmas and holiday books. I had sold my way onto the Amazon's Authors 100 best-sellers list. Golden moments – this year’s goal – to get back on that list. But that’s another blog - Oh yeah!The next link on this site is the Customer Reviews. Pretty self-explanatory. I answer all my reviews. Figure if people take their time to leave a comment, the least I can do is thank them.  But that’s just me – part of my old-fashioned upbringing.   *** 

Author Profile on Amazon Central

 

I know many of you are sick of filling in profile information on all the various sites that demand it. Since the day you became serious about promoting your work, I bet there’s a lot. I know I have a whole freakin, 3-ring book full of the different places where I’ve filled in my name, various tidbits of information and my books covers, etc. Then I promptly forgot about most of them because there aren’t enough hours in the day.
The one place you don’t want to forget about and that’s the store that sells your books.  Amazon sends you your paychecks and so they are in a whole different category than any of the others that are plain promo sites. (My books are totally with their select program, so for me Amazon is my only employer.)

When it comes to setting up my author page here, I decided that it had to be done well. I wanted to get “likes” for my page and I hoped to get fans to follow me on twitter and my blogs from there. As a technically challenged, middle-aged chick, I fought with getting the RSS feed from my blog, but with perseverance and Google, it’s amazing what you can achieve. I knew it was a good place to have it show up and so I’m glad it works so well. Setting up the twitter was a snap.
Writing an interesting Bio that engages the reader and doesn’t make them yawn took a few days, but then again I’m a wordsmith – it’s my profession . Have to admit, it was darned difficult writing about myself.
The photo – I fiddled and stressed about that because many of the traditional authors feel it’s a must to have a professional photograph done. When I first started this career, I just couldn’t justify the cost. I decided I’d rather use the money for a book promotion. My husband took his digital, made me sit nice and polite and went to work and we chose the best. Not sure if I’m right about this, so it is on my to-do (maybe one day) list.
Once you have filled in this profile, Amazon will add it to your page where a customer can go to see all your books. In other words, rather than putting a book title in the search box, they put in your name. It opens up with your personal profile mixed in with all your books (and some from other folks also – so what’s up with that??? All I know it’s got something to do with the keywords you used when publishing – I think???)
I absolutely know there have been a number of readers who’ve checked me out – there’s over 130 likes and so if this profile does bring traffic. Therefore,it’s gotta be done right. Right???
Have I forgotten anything about the profile? If you know of some other important point to bring up, please leave a comment for everyone. Next blog – What I know about the “Book Statistics in Amazon Central”.